Chapter 1153: History's Great Wheel

Author: A Smile of Three Hundred PoundsLast updated: July 19, 2020Word count for this chapter: 8,296 words

This battle shattered heaven and earth. Everything reverted to chaos, and all universal laws turned into nothingness. The core war zone transformed entirely into endless electromagnetic light and particles, interwoven into a chaotic mass. Vast numbers of enlightened beings began to fall.

As the first ancient god between heaven and earth, his path was chaos, and he cultivated the most fundamental great dao law, unparalleled and not even on the same dimensional level. Moreover, Yi Mang had suddenly risen, ambushing and killing several of his strongest disciples to seize their great dao bloodlines, thus becoming an ultimate being with five great dao bloodlines. Such power was simply unimaginable!

Yet, he was not invincible. Even if Yi Mang wielded the strongest power, he was still alone. He faced three thousand chaos saints, whose cultivated great daos were extraordinary, and whose combat power defied heaven. After Yi Mang launched a surprise attack, they quickly reacted. Yi Mang found himself at a disadvantage. No matter how strong he was, he could not withstand such a terrifying siege.

In the distance, cosmic saints watched in terror, astonishment, and disbelief. The pure, selfless, and great sage they had revered, the first ancient god who had opened up heaven and earth, was now covered in an aura of evil, his face contorted with desire and greed, as if he had fallen into the mortal realm, experiencing human emotions, and had become utterly alien. It was as if he had transformed into two different beings.

Boom!!

They continued their encirclement. Even if the Dao Ancestor was powerful, he could not withstand three thousand saints who had attained the Dao of Primordial Chaos and resided outside the cosmic dojo.

"It's no use... it's no use..." Yi Mang, disheveled and with crimson black eyes, exuded an unimaginably awe-inspiring aura as he faced the saints besieging him. "You are all my disciples and grand-disciples. I cannot defeat you all, but..." He gradually regained his youth, like a crouching dragon and tiger, resisting the siege of all beings. "At this moment, with time accelerated by ten thousand years per day in the high-dimensional space, can you withstand it? I only need to delay for a while, and you will naturally age and die, assimilated by the entire great universe..."

His words were calm. But the surrounding cosmic saints immediately paled. As four-dimensional beings, they had sparred but never truly fought. Even in sparring, no one could kill anyone else. Their lifespans were infinite; entering higher-dimensional space-time caused no loss. But now, it was different. After attaining ultimate enlightenment, their lifespans became finite. With an end to life, they could no longer arbitrarily extend their existence.

They clearly felt their lives rapidly decaying and being assimilated by the great universe as they entered the high-dimensional space-time. Some powerful cosmic saints even began to show signs of great dao death energy, with strands of black clinging to them and strange, terrifying dao-marks appearing on their skin. They tried to reverse their bodies, rewind their timelines, and return to their youth, but the dao-wound mysteriously persisted and would not reverse with time!

Before them, Yi Mang fought them in a high-dimensional space-time accelerated by ten thousand years per day. To sustain the battle, they had to burn their lifespans, but Yi Mang's lifespan already surpassed theirs.

"We will be the first to die." A horrifying thought surfaced in the minds of the three thousand great saints.

"Do you understand? Then stop." Yi Mang stopped, his expression somber, as if he had completely fallen into demonhood, his body enveloped in an aura of evil and defilement. "If this continues, you will be the first to fall... And I have taken what I wanted: killing my disciples to seize their great dao bloodlines, enhancing my combat power to resist the assimilation of the entire great dao... Now, with my lifespan sufficiently extended, there's no point in us fighting further."

The three thousand great dao saints ceased their actions in silence. They didn't know what to say or what to do. They clearly knew that all of this was within Yi Mang's calculations; he knew he could retreat unscathed even when facing all the saints of the universe. At the same time, all the saints present knew that this was not merely about a few great dao saints falling; it would usher in an unprecedented era: the beginning of a decaying, dark universe.

Previously, the primordial chaos era, where all primordial gods and demons were kind, pure, guileless, loving, and laughed heartily together, shoulder to shoulder, would be gone forever. From this point on, all great dao saints began to be wary of other beings, preventing ambushes to extend their own lifespans. Their united front completely crumbled, shattering into pieces. These three thousand Daoists would no longer need to guard against ambushes from Dao Ancestor Yi Mang, who had already achieved completeness, but rather against other saints secretly attacking them.

"The world has changed..." Nvyi, as the ninth and youngest disciple, had a bitter expression. The four strongest senior brothers had been killed, leaving only five disciples alive. Nvyi bowed respectfully and said, "Master, you have ushered in another new era." This time, Yi Mang did not speak, but remained silent for a long moment. He quietly turned and left, his figure disappearing into the darkness.

He no longer had the face to confront the beings of the entire world. He clearly knew the terrifying impact his actions would have on future generations of the universe: disasters, schemes, and conflicts, all springing forth. He still remembered when he had led that group of laughing, naive beings, running shoulder-to-shoulder through the chaos. Seeing them find life dull and consider suicide, he had simply vowed to create an interesting, un-boring paradise for them. He had done it. His childhood dream had come true. Everything was interesting and prosperous, but was it truly... a paradise?

"It's out of control now; everything has long been beyond my control..." Yi Mang recalled the grand words he had spoken while standing with everyone atop the stone sculpture. Suddenly, a pang of sorrow struck him, and he quietly closed his eyes. He faintly heard the sound of a certain belief within him completely shattering.

Suddenly, Nvyi, behind him, couldn't help but ask: "Is the decay of life merely accidental, or is eternal life destined to lead to decay in the future?" Yi Mang's body visibly stiffened for a moment, but he did not answer, striding away and vanishing into the darkness.

Soon, the first disaster erupted faster than anyone expected. As the three thousand gods and demons dispersed, a terrifying incident occurred: an ancient god and demon was secretly ambushed and killed on their way back, their great dao seized. It was a powerful, mysterious entity that had secretly concealed the heavenly secrets, so no one knew who had committed the act. All great dao saints remained silent, descending to glance at the remaining traces of the battle before departing. They clearly knew that the naive, innocent past would not return; the purity of the primordial gods and demons era had vanished, and the entire post-primordial universe began to be filled with cunning, treachery, and darkness. Among the saints, calculations and schemes began to unfold in the extraterrestrial dojo. The universe... began to turn into a dark forest, leading to eternal decay.

In less than a year, various powerful beings began to cultivate the next generation of disciples, hoping they could attain ultimate enlightenment. But whether they cultivated their disciples with the same benevolent intentions as before, or harbored ulterior motives, no one knew. However, the speed of cultivation ultimately could not keep up with their decay. The first batch of great dao saints already had limited lifespans, which rapidly dwindled after the great war, bringing them to the brink of death. A great battle erupted faster than anyone could have imagined. The chain reactions were more terrifying than any great dao being had anticipated.

"The great tribulation of the primordial gods and demons' destruction is truly upon us..." In a corner above the universe, Xu Zhi calculated with his fingers, as if witnessing a terror unprecedented throughout history. "They died, all of them died..." Xu Zhi felt an unimaginable desolation in his heart, as if he was witnessing the vast torrent of history. Even he felt incredibly conflicted. "In the Primordial Chaos era, before heaven and earth were fully formed, the beings were the purest and kindest, free from impurities... The three thousand saints who attained the Dao in chaos were the most innocent and powerful beings in existence. They paved the way for future generations, established rules for all beings, and were the most devout seekers of the Dao. There were none like them before, and there would be none as pure in the future... yet they ultimately met such a tragic end."

Escape... Some saints were unwilling to fight, choosing to withdraw from the world. But no one escaped. Xu Zhi saw the great battle erupting. The starry sky collapsed. The massive melee of three thousand chaos ancient gods, who symbolized the great dao framework of the entire universe, triggered terrifying chain reactions. No later era would see so many enlightened saints appear simultaneously, all mastering the strongest laws. Their battle was like falling dominoes; the rules of the universe were completely torn apart, fragmenting into pieces. Newly formed planets, galaxies, and even nascent post-primordial beings were all turned into wisps of mist, dissipating into the universe.

This was a great tribulation of gods and demons. None of the three thousand enlightened beings could avoid it. The battle raged for an unimaginably long time. It was unknown how long passed before everything in the vast emptiness of the universe welcomed an unprecedented great annihilation. The casualties were too horrific. Even Xu Zhi watched with a numb expression. Logically, each great dao saint only needed to kill four to achieve completeness. But in the later stages of the battle, it was pure madness; no one held back, and no one could control it. Only over a hundred great dao saints, who had completed five great dao bloodlines, successfully survived. However, they had consumed too much of their lifespans in this battle. Even though their combat power had become extremely strong, enabling them to resist the great universe's assimilation, they knew they wouldn't live much longer.

"We are the last... After we fall, our era will end." Amidst the remnants of the bloody carnage, they exchanged glances, their spirits utterly lost.

Another thousand years passed. The shattered universe, under the remaining great dao saints, re-coalesced and developed anew. Even though everything had been reduced to chaos, under the rules, the chaotic heaven and earth automatically began to re-separate and self-repair. Planets, light, soil—everything reappeared. Life, too, was regenerated. The ancient cosmic great dao beings who had survived secluded themselves in the chaotic dojos outside heaven, to reduce the great dao's assimilation of themselves. With the saints not appearing, the rules of heaven and earth became stable. Under the law of life, vast numbers of beings naturally began to coalesce and form, and civilizations re-emerged. This was destined to be an era of post-primordial beings. Xu Zhi saw an indigenous tribe on a planet beginning to develop civilization, and a long-lost sense of familiarity flashed through him.

The cosmic rules had only laid down most of the patterns, but heaven and earth were still largely in a nascent, crude form, merely the early, hazy stage of chaos. "Everything still needs to develop," Xu Zhi sighed softly. He hesitated, then looked at Yi Mang, who was approaching his twilight years and had not appeared during the great battle of the three thousand gods and demons. He was already old and decrepit. Even with an extended lifespan, he was nearing its end. Because, like a madman, he had accelerated his lifespan in high-dimensional space-time, by a thousand years per day. Only a short time had passed in that dimension, yet he had lived over two hundred thousand years. Despite extending his lifespan, he did not cherish it, continuously accelerating it.

Xu Zhi sighed, yet he could understand Yi Mang's complex feelings. This lonely man, who seemed like a heroic figure creating the entire universe, had in reality suffered another bloody wound to his heart from the chaotic battle of the ancient gods and demons. He also chose not to interfere, because everything had begun because of him. For years, he had lived in deep self-reproach, in so much pain he could barely breathe, feeling an urge to end it all. "Time is a torrent. I haven't changed anything, nor will I alter the course of history. I want to know what truly happened to him... but..." Xu Zhi tilted his head back, then fell silent. He thought for a moment and decided to see Yi Mang one last time, at the very end of his life—to see this ancient god, once called a hero, who had ultimately fallen. Xu Zhi knew that seeing him now would not be enough to influence the trajectory of the entire era. Nothing was enough to influence destiny anymore.