Volume One: Youthful Encounters in Humble Times Chapter 120: I Wish to Dissolve into the Dao (Part 2)

Although Zhang Helun was curious, this was not the time to probe further. He harbored his doubts, but not wanting to waste the opportunity Liang Hui had created for them, he and Sun Li managed to break free and sprinted toward the location of the Five Ancestors of Tianmen Town.

Unfortunately, they arrived too late.

The Yin-Yang Inversion Array had already absorbed sufficient power, and the lifeblood of Tianmen Town was beyond salvation. Before their eyes, all the vegetation in the area withered in an instant, losing all vitality. This was not limited to just one spot; the cessation of life spread outward from the heart of the lifeblood, an unstoppable force.

Feeling his own cultivation plummet in an instant, Sun Li asked with a pale face, "City Lord Zhang, is there any remedy left?"

Zhang Helun’s cultivation had also dropped by a realm and was continuing to decline. He did not seem to mind much, saying helplessly, "What else could I do? I never had full confidence to begin with. I came here simply because I did not want to stand idly by. Now that they have fully integrated the Yin-Yang Inversion Array into the lifeblood of the town, even a saint would likely be powerless to reverse this."

Having completed the array, Wang Zhong and the other four felt a sense of relief. Looking back at Zhang Helun, they asked, "Why must you be so stubborn? Wouldn't opening the Heavenly Gate be good for all of us? Why must you insist on standing against us?"

Zhang Helun replied with disdain, "I do not stand against you; I stand with Tianmen Town and its people. I do not care if you wish to open the Heavenly Gate, but you should not have acted without leaving any room for retreat!"

Guo Nan retorted, "Can you blame us? If that Daoist hadn't appeared out of thin air to interfere, would we have been forced to act this way?"

At that moment, the Daoist felt that the lifeblood of Tianmen Town had been thoroughly destroyed, and the spatial domain of the town that supported his own field was beginning to collapse. He looked up at the sky with a gaze that seemed to hold a trace of contempt, then glanced toward Liuguang, saying with reluctance, "Liuguang, goodbye."

Though Liuguang had not gone to the scene, she had been watching from beneath the great tree at the village entrance, gazing toward the Daoist’s direction. Hearing his voice transmission, she knew he was truly leaving. Despite the reluctance in her heart, she forced herself to remain calm, her eyes red with sorrow as she replied, "Go in peace. I will protect the people and things you care about."

Perhaps the Daoist heard her, for he smiled gratefully toward the distance. He then looked toward Li Yu, as if trying to confirm one last thing, but in the end, he saw nothing. "Sigh, very well. Little Fish, you must walk the path ahead on your own."

With those words, he fully released his Primordial Dao.

His field shattered completely. At the same time, Li Hongshuang and the others clearly felt the spatial barriers of Tianmen Town fracturing, signaling that the Daoist’s domain had lost its efficacy. They held back no longer. Li Hongshuang took the lead, launching an attack on the Daoist with the intent to eliminate him once and for all.

The five saints were the first to sense the collapse of the Daoist’s domain, yet they felt no relief, for the Daoist’s Primordial Dao was no easier to deal with than his domain.

Once Li Hongshuang’s group reached the five saints, they urged, "Seniors, the Daoist’s power is supreme. We only have a chance if we attack together. Please set aside your rules and take him down now. If we don’t, the Heavenly Gate will truly be destroyed."

The five saints exchanged glances. Bai Ling, in particular, had already guessed what the Daoist intended, though she dared not believe he could truly achieve it. Hearing the juniors, she thought that their only remaining hope was to see if they could stop him.

She nodded, signaling the other saints to discard their pride and join the effort to subdue him.

In an instant, overwhelming divine techniques and spells rained down upon the Daoist. Yet, under the shroud of the Primordial Dao, every technique that came near was reduced to the purest primordial energy. It lost all offensive power, becoming instead fodder for the sword array, accelerating the erosion of the Heavenly Gate.

Below, Li Yu watched as everyone attacked his master. With the Sword Saint nowhere to be seen, his hatred for them intensified. He asked Chen Yuan beside him, "Can you go and help my master?"

Chen Yuan shook his head. "You overestimate me. Even if I had reached the realm of a saint, I would gain nothing from facing such a siege. The five saints there are not opponents for ordinary cultivators."

Li Yu knew it was unlikely, but he had to ask. After Chen Yuan’s blunt refusal, he turned his focus back to the battle above.

Although the Daoist held the absolute upper hand, he did not launch a single attack. The Primordial Dao was so formidable that by merely existing, the Daoist suppressed everyone around him without needing to use any techniques.

The ancestor of the Wan Hua Sect was shocked and asked, "What Great Dao does this Daoist follow? Why do our arts have no effect on him?"

No one knew, so they turned their eyes toward the five saints, subconsciously assuming they must know. But how could the saints reveal it? This was a secret they were meant to keep. If they admitted that the Daoist had realized the Primordial Dao, the consequences would be far worse than the destruction of the Heavenly Gate.

Bai Ling stated, "Do not worry. The Daoist is at the end of his strength. Although his Dao is special, it still follows the path of the Heavenly Dao. As long as we hold on for the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, his Daoist aura will begin to dissipate, and then we will be able to strike him."

Bai Ling said half the truth and hid the rest, blending reality with deception. It sounded plausible enough to satisfy the crowd.

The Daoist sat cross-legged, his aura flickering in and out of existence. Had his Dao not lingered around him, one might have mistaken him for having passed away. The crowd did not stop their attacks, thinking that since he would not fight back, this was the perfect opportunity to kill him.

The time it takes for a stick of incense to burn is neither fast nor slow. By the time it had passed, those who had gone to destroy the lifeblood returned and joined the assault. Zhang Helun and his companions were among them. Sun Li was naturally exhausted, and Zhang Helun was puzzled to see the Daoist accepting their onslaught without moving.

Only Liang Hui sensed the truth. Though his expression remained unchanged, his heart was in turmoil. "The Dao Source Realm! It is actually the Dao Source Realm. Can someone in the mortal world truly reach the Dao Source Realm? What is he doing? Is he transforming into the Dao?"

Yes, the Daoist was transforming into the Dao.

When the time was up, the Primordial Dao surrounding him began to retract into his body, and the attacks drew closer. Once his protection vanished, the others saw their chance and unleashed their strongest powers with greedy eyes.

Bai Ling, seeing this, realized something was wrong. She glanced at the Heavenly Gate beside the Daoist and cried out, "Stop!"

She tried to call them off, but it was too late.

The Daoist smiled. As all the attacks converged upon him, his figure suddenly vanished, replaced by the Heavenly Gate. The gate, already weakened by the erosion of the Years Sword Array and covered in rust, seemed ready to crumble at the slightest touch.

Under their collective gaze, the Heavenly Gate shattered into pieces. Everyone was so shocked that no one noticed a shadow flitting through the void, snatching a fragment of the gate before disappearing without a trace, as if it had never been there.

When the crowd finally reacted, the Heavenly Gate had been reduced to dust by the sword array, blown away by the wind as if it had never existed. After countless ages, the Heavenly Gate was finally destroyed by the Daoist’s meticulous plan.

Looking at the people before him, the Daoist’s eyes filled with irrepressible joy and excitement. He said with a mix of pride and schadenfreude, "Do you know what is more desperate than despair? It is watching your own hope be destroyed by your own hands."

Before they could vent their rage, he continued, "This is only the beginning. What follows is what I truly intended to do."

After the gate was destroyed, a divine punishment descended from the sky, shrouding all those who had attacked. It appeared to have no effect, but it was a thread of karma. Once bound by this thread, they could never leave Tianmen Town again.

Divine punishment was not originally like this, but during his centuries in Tianmen Town, the Daoist had modified it. The Heavenly Gate was an artifact left behind by the Celestial Realm; for mortals to destroy it was a grave disrespect. How could the Celestial Realm not punish the mortal world for such an act?

When he decided to destroy the gate, the Daoist had prepared to alter the divine punishment, and over these hundreds of years, he had truly succeeded.