Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1070 The Origin of the Daoist Court (5300)

"What exactly is the Heavenly Demon?"

Fu Xie repeated An Jing's words, then chuckled softly, "That's a good question; it certainly gets to the heart of the matter."

"Hmm. Or rather, what I want to ask is, what exactly is the relationship between the Dao Court and the Heavenly Demons?"

An Jing raised his head, gazing at the Candlelight Star above him, his eyes calm: "Actually, I had already started thinking about this principle when I first learned about 'Devouring Evil and Realizing Truth'."

"A Great Dao Law specifically designed for Heavenly Demons... and it is so perfect and so powerful that it can respond to the needs of all demon slayers in the world and make all demon slayers become powerful quickly."

"And the Heavenly Demons don't even have any means of countering them. Once they are destroyed, they become resources for cultivators, whether they are martial artists, immortal cultivators, or cultivators of any other system. As long as they eliminate the demons, they can become powerful... What does this mean? How could I not know?"

"This is simply treating the other side as resources! As long as you slaughter them, you can obtain everything—supernatural powers, cultivation level, realm, even divine weapons and magic spells, lifespan, wisdom, comprehension and innate talent, everything. Profound Qi can provide all of this; it's just a matter of quantity!"

"but."

An Jing lowered his head, looked in the direction of Fu Xie, and said solemnly, "The Heavenly Demon has not been eliminated yet."

"On the contrary, the Heavenly Demons are still constantly encroaching and winning, driving the Dao Court into a series of defeats."

"That's how powerful the Heavenly Demon is."

"Yes."

Fu Xie's illusory form embraced its true form and whispered, "The Heavenly Demon is just that powerful. Most of the time, we can only resist when facing the Heavenly Demon, and if we fail... we will struggle and retreat step by step, making it difficult to even think about the possibility of victory."

An Jing's tone was even more ruthless: "No, 'retreating step by step' might be a bit too nice... I didn't feel that the Heavenly Demon wanted to win at all."

"Judging from the way he questioned his own fate and even his subsequent suffering and loneliness, it seems that all the great demons with wisdom have no intention of winning at all, but simply let humanity do whatever it wants."

"Just like this time—I'm not entirely sure what their purpose is, but there's no doubt they've released a great demon that devours the sun and moon—but do they want to destroy the world? Or do they want to use this opportunity to release an unparalleled demon?"

At this point, An Jing even laughed: "I don't think so, do I? If that were the case, why did those Blood Sea Demon Dragons only entangle those trial warriors from the Scale Realm, practically letting me fight them one-on-one?"

"Xiu Ming and Jie Xin have truly fought me, as has Ku Ji. Others may not know how powerful I am, but these three certainly do. I suspect they could even foresee that with my strength, I could humiliate and shatter the Supreme Demonic Mark without their support!"

“Yes.” Fu Xie also laughed: “Those are all old friends, Xiu Ming, Jie Xin, Ku Ji, Tian Shuai… They are all subordinates of the ‘Supreme Heavenly Demon’ that Huai Xu Jie faced. If the normal process is followed, they will enter the Zhao Lin Realm in avatars, just like that God One Sect Master, and then use their own imprints to repair the Supreme Heavenly Demon’s imprints, restoring it to its complete form.”

"In that case, even you, even a perfect martial artist like An Jing... might not be able to defeat him."

An Jing trusted Fu Xie's judgment.

Fu Xie was his guide throughout his growth. Fu Xie knew better than anyone how strong An Jing was. His judgment meant that An Jing did not have a sure chance of winning against the complete imprint of the Supreme Heavenly Demon.

Is this a denigration? Absolutely not. The other party is a being at the Dao Integration Realm, with all four Immortal Karmas fully upgraded in their imprint projections, and all kinds of Dao Integration-level cultivation techniques also fully equipped. They are incomparable to the half-saint demon projection of the Tianyuan Realm.

An Jing believed that he could seize the possibility of victory, but that would definitely not be an easy task.

“So, Fu Xie…” An Jing paused, about to continue asking, when Fu Xie raised his hand and calmly said, “I know what you want to say, and my answer is ‘yes’.”

"The four Great Heavenly Demons, led by Xiuming, are indeed unwilling to see the 'Supreme Heavenly Demon' resurrected, and do not wish for the 'Heavenly Demon' to achieve complete victory."

"The answer is simple: if the Supreme Heavenly Demon fully revives, completely defeats us rebels, and devours the Huai Xu Realm, then they will return to the Supreme Heavenly Demon and become a wisp of thought or impulse without any intelligence or even 'non-existence,' becoming part of the [Hundred Demon Lords - Supreme Heart Demon]."

"The reason why Huaixu Realm was able to turn defeat into victory is that it grasped this key balance."

“An Jing, I know what you want to ask, so I'll tell you now.”

As he spoke, Fu Xie slowly stood up, or rather, his sword rose up, drawing a network of silver axes in the Heavenly Punishment Realm: "The origin of our Dao Court, the source and essence of the Heavenly Demons, and our mission."

The first thing He said made An Jing's eyes widen.

"The Dao Court is an organization of immortals and gods that originated from a planet called 'Earth'."

Noticing An Jing's surprise, Fu Xie smiled and said, "I know you mentioned during our casual conversation that your past life came from Earth—but that was clearly not Earth."

"The universe is infinitely large, not to mention that there are multiverses beyond the universe, infinite multiverses, and even a pan-infinite multiverse derivative axis. In this endless universe, it is not surprising that there are infinitely many kinds of Earth."

“I will explain all of this to you. Now, please listen to me.”

“Long ago, on a planet called Earth, a group of intelligent beings were born. For various reasons, that planet was home to countless demons and monsters, and countless natural treasures. It was perhaps the most blessed place in the entire universe.”

"On that homeland, beings who call themselves 'human' started from nothing and forged an extraordinary path with their blood, bones, and sacrifices, gaining unparalleled power and eternal life."

"They conquered the earth, the sea, and the sky; they conquered the moon and the sun; they conquered spacetime itself; they discovered hundreds, thousands, even countless spacetime passages leading to other worlds, and obtained almost limitless resources."

"At that time, there were forty-nine 'Central Divine Court' alone—which was the predecessor of the 'Dao Court' and one of the largest groups of extraordinary beings on Earth."

An Jing listened silently, and besides speaking, Fu Xie was also transmitting some knowledge and information to him.

Of course he knew that the Earth Fu Xie spoke of was completely different from the Earth in his memory—his home Earth had only a few million years of history of Homo sapiens, and there were no naturally born demons, gods, or monsters.

However, in Fu Xie's words, the Earth in which humans were born at the same time as dinosaurs, and putting aside this almost absurd origin story, the humans on that Earth gradually embarked on the path of cultivation and became an extraordinary civilization.

Moreover, forty-nine Heavenly Venerables...

"This is terrifying." An Jing murmured, "Huai Xu is so vast, with the expanse of ten continents. The habitable land is almost a complete solar system. Even so, more than a hundred Celestial Venerables can still fill the world to the brim. The surface area of ​​the Earth, converted to Huai Xu, is probably only the size of a single continent, yet it can accommodate forty-nine Celestial Venerables?"

"Oh no, not just forty-nine. Because according to Fu Xie, there were other 'divine courts' on Earth at that time?"

"Yes."

Fu Xie nodded slightly: "The stars are endless and the universe is vast. In theory, as long as a Celestial Venerable appears, civilization will spread to more distant areas. However, our homeland is too blessed by nature, with countless direct passages to different universes, planes and even special times and spaces. Its resources can basically be called infinite."

"Not to mention dozens, even hundreds of Celestial Venerables could be raised. At that time, the celestial and divine civilization, which had reached its peak of development, could do almost anything."

"They can create grottoes to store waste heat and waste spiritual energy, keeping the entire galaxy in the most suitable low-entropy and high-spirit state. They can modify spacetime, allowing space teleportation to replace walking. They can also modify dimensions, making the entire solar system appear completely non-existent from the outside, completely isolated and secluded."

"They can even create a star, a real sun, for their pets as a gift and a present, giving it to them unconditionally."

"They can do anything the universe can do, as long as they want to."

"Then."

Fu Xie lowered his gaze, and his sword murmured, "They have fallen."

"From the perspective of the distant future, that was the first time that the Dao Court, or rather, the Earth's Ascended Civilization, came into contact with the 'Heavenly Demon'... However, at that time, they did not know the nature of the demon, but regarded it as a 'too favorable environment' that led to their complacency."

“No.” An Jing frowned. “Isn’t this just ‘being too comfortable and becoming complacent’? Of course, I haven’t seen any external force involved.”

“Yes, Anjing.” Fuxie nodded slightly, and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “It is precisely because this is a ‘matter of course’ that it is a ‘heavenly demon’.” “Just as you would not question that mortals need to eat, drink, and breathe, just as you would not question that firewood will turn to ashes after being burned by flames, just as you know that lightning flashes and disappears, and rain falls from top to bottom, and if you look at yourself in a mirror, you will know that you can see your own face.”

"That's just how it is."

"However, the extraordinary never take things for granted."

"The Celestial Venerable does not need to breathe or eat. The Celestial Venerable can create fire and wood that burn forever. The Celestial Venerable can create something from nothing and infinitely generate spiritual energy. The Celestial Venerable can create lightning that never stops. The Celestial Venerable can make rain flow backward, make rivers flow backward, make mirrors unable to reflect themselves, and make light lose its power."

“An Jing, you know, and you believe, that if you also reach the Heavenly Venerable realm, then you can deny and transcend all these ‘taken-for-granted’ things.”

"Then why can't you believe that the Celestial Venerable... can achieve 'never falling'?"

An Jing frowned. He realized that this was a way of thinking and logic completely different from ordinary people. From the perspective of an ordinary person, it would probably never be understood.

But... he can understand.

Yes.

If the Celestial Venerables were willing, if the immortals and gods were willing, they could easily make a vow of their Dao heart, never stopping, never ceasing. Why then did they fall? They could easily obtain all the pleasures of the human world, all material enjoyment, and all spiritual enjoyment.

If that's the case, why did they fall?

Because of the demon...

Or perhaps... a sense of 'taking it for granted'.

“But that doesn’t prove anything.” An Jing’s expression was serious. He had vaguely grasped something, so he slowly said, “Even immortals and gods have desires, and desires cannot be an eternal pursuit of the highest. They are immortal and have infinite time, so they can naturally move forward slowly and try more possibilities.”

“Yes, you are right.” Fu Xie readily agreed, “I would even say that being impatient for quick success in pursuit of the Great Dao is itself a kind of ‘demonic’ behavior. Therefore, even a Heavenly Venerable may have many ‘natural’ reasons to fall into depravity.”

"But precisely because of this, you can probably understand a little bit about the true nature of the 'Heavenly Demon,' which is so elusive, right?"

"I can vaguely see it."

An Jing said softly, "This is a non-material, purely conceptual idea... Yes, the Supreme Demon! The Supreme Demon is probably a similar power, but it is more real. It is a kind of 'non-image'."

Looking at An Jing, who was deep in thought, Fu Xie smiled slightly and continued, "At that time, the immortals and gods only lamented that they had 'fallen into demonic possession.' So, when they were awakened from their depravity by a certain opportunity and set sail again, the 'demon' was defeated."

"The Great Dao Calendar, 439,891 years."

"In a multiverse, in a certain universe, within a planetary system on the third spiral arm of a star system called the Milky Way, a race that had been stagnant and unable to progress due to its superior natural conditions, stopped its long period of enjoyment and rest, awakened from its decadence, and returned to the correct path of exploring the endless Dao and the common principles."

"The Dao Court is hereby established."

"Having left their homeland, the Daoist court began to travel through different universes, dimensions, and timelines, studying all kinds of Daos and 'spreading' the seeds of the Dao. They transformed countless inheritances and cultivation materials into instruments of the Dao such as 'heavenly books' and 'Daoist steles,' spreading them to every corner of the infinite timelines and infinite possibilities of the multiverse."

"In this process, all the Heavenly Venerables who were originally stuck at the 'Heavenly Venerable' realm all merged with the Dao, and the power of the Dao Court expanded rapidly, quickly becoming an existence that could not be underestimated in the entire multiverse."

"But precisely because of this, the power of the Dao Court has once again become chaotic, and conflicts have arisen among the many 'Return to the Void Dao One' and 'Merge with the Dao Supreme' over the Great Dao."

"This is yet another appearance of the [Demon]. If it is allowed to develop freely, then a war between many Dao-merging beings will break out, completely shattering the accumulated foundation of civilization and restoring it to a state that never existed."

"At that time, the leader of the Daoist court, or rather, the 'Heavenly Emperor,' was none other than the Great Immortal Huaixu."

An Jing heard the familiar name and nodded slightly.

The records of Huaixu Dao Court reveal the uniqueness of the Great Immortal Huaixu, especially his twelve nominal disciples, each of whom was capable of creating a perfect great world and was a Celestial Venerable or Dao Venerable, which is enough to show his power.

Therefore, even if Fu Xie told him that the Great Immortal Huai Xu had served as a Heavenly Emperor, that is, the leader of the Daoist Court, he was not surprised at all.

But clearly, the status of the Great Immortal Huaixu was far more lofty. Fuxie continued, "The Great Immortal Huaixu was the pioneer who guided the immortals to build the Jianmu Divine Ship and step out of their homeland."

"Therefore, He was the first Heavenly Emperor of the Daoist Court, and even after He stepped down, He still had a great influence in the Daoist Court."

"At that time, the Great Immortal Huaixu, who was still the Heavenly Emperor, decided to reform the Dao Court's system after noticing the differences among the Dao Venerables. In fact, he even decided to revise the entire 'cultivation system' once again."

"That was the prototype of our current 'Immortal Path'."

"The Great Immortal Huaixu has united all the Dao Venerables, and a new, extremely powerful Dao Venerable has also appeared in the homeland. That is the [Immortal Emperor of Reform] whom we mentioned before."

"The Great Immortal and the Reforming Immortal Emperor joined forces to create the current order of the Dao Court and a new cultivation system, and then stepped down and abdicated to each other."

"From that time on, the Dao Court was no longer an organization, but a 'model'—any Daoist who has returned to the Void can separate from the original Dao Court, lead their own fleet, freely explore any direction they want to explore, build the civilization they want to build, and establish a new 'Dao Court'."

"And all the different 'Dao Courts' are not completely scattered. All Dao Courts are connected through the power of the Great Immortal Huaixu, that is to say..."

“Jin Yuan Tian!” An Jing exclaimed in realization. Fu Xie nodded with a smile, “That’s right, it’s Jin Yuan Tian.”

"The Dao Courts are all interconnected through the Endless Heaven—the Endless Heaven Walkers are the most promising pioneers chosen by the Endless Heaven, and they are the platform for them to communicate with each other."

"That was truly an incredibly prosperous era, with the various Dao Courts taking root and sprouting throughout the multiverse, expanding and growing at an incredible speed."

"The demon has been defeated—just as everything that was taken for granted has been shattered. The obstacles of the old era, the demons of the old era, the things that were taken for granted in the old era, the things that caused disputes and conflicts, and the things that hindered progress, will all disappear in the new era."

"It was at this time that a Taoist court emerged, whose understanding of 'demons' was the most profound. They began to perceive the true nature of demons hidden beneath the 'taken-for-granted'."

"They believe that the devil is a fundamental law of the multiverse, just like the cosmological constant and the fundamental forces, a more profound and fundamental principle."

"But even the Great Way can be modified."

"Therefore, for the sake of all beings in the future of the multiverse, for the sake of all living beings, they decided to volunteer to use a supreme divine power called 'Extreme Distance' to directly reach the source of 'Demon' and destroy, modify, and negate it."

Anjing listened silently.

He could understand the thoughts of those 'Dao Venerables'—for those beings who had already merged with the Dao, or even those who had gone far on the path of merging with the Dao, even 'death' was just a descriptive concept. In the universe they had modified, death might not even exist. Given that, it was not strange that they wanted to eliminate the abstract concept of 'demon'.

But clearly, they failed.

"They failed."

Fu Xie also said regretfully, "Not only that, the essence of 'demon' is something more natural than death. It is so powerful that it is beyond the imagination of the Dao Venerables and cannot be killed at all."

"In fact, the essence of 'demon' is sealed."

“And they broke the seal.”

(End of this chapter)