Chapter 2255: The Struggle of the Heavenly Dao

"Yes, just as you suspected, this is a battle for the Heavenly Dao!"

Master Kong seemed to read his thoughts and sighed. "It cannot be avoided; it's inevitable. The world's great forces, after a long period of division, must unite, and after a long period of unity, must divide. No one can escape this fate. If I win, I will become the new master of the Heavenly Dao. If I lose, my soul will be scattered, and everything will utterly vanish."

"A battle for the Heavenly Dao..." Zhang Xuan's face turned pale. "Then what about her and me?"If what Master Kong said was true, would Luo Ruoxi also have to fight him in the future? Would they also contend for destiny? No wonder when he had fallen for her, she had been so reluctant, even offering various excuses. He had always thought she had a formidable background and was constrained by her family. Now, it was clear that wasn't the case at all. This struggle for the Heavenly Dao was a life-or-death situation. Back on the Master Teacher Continent, he had repeatedly asked her true identity but never received a clear answer. It wasn't that she was unwilling to tell him, but rather, as a part of the Heavenly Dao herself, speaking about it would inevitably trigger a backlash from the Heavenly Dao. In the worst case, it could force them into a premature battle for life or death.

"If I win," Master Kong said, looking at him calmly, "then the struggle will be between you and me. If I lose, it will be between you and her. This is destiny; it cannot be resisted." As he spoke of his own life and death, his face remained completely unruffled, as if discussing someone else's fate.

"The Heavenly Dao you speak of, is it the Heavenly Dao of the God Realm?" Zhang Xuan asked incredulously. "Is there really no way to avoid it?"

"There is no way to avoid it!" Master Kong shook his head.

"But... the God Realm seems perfectly normal," Zhang Xuan quickly interjected. "People can still cultivate, and countless powerful individuals are born. If the Heavenly Dao were truly divided among us, it shouldn't be like this..." He reasoned that if the Heavenly Dao was split among the three of them and they had to contend for destiny, the God Realm's Heavenly Dao should be in utter chaos. Why was it still so stable?

"Normal?" Master Kong gave a bitter smile. "It hasn't been normal for over forty years. Spiritual energy is decaying, countless species are going extinct, deities are forced to live within cities, unable to break through without divine energy... Cultivation resources are scarce. It might hold on for a few decades, but in another hundred or thousand years, it will be completely barren, and life itself might cease to exist..."

"This..." Zhang Xuan started, but his words trailed off. He was speechless. What the other person said was true. Spiritual energy had been in decline for just over forty years, and uninhabited areas were already turning barren. Countless deities and other living beings had perished, and many cultivators found their progress stalled due to limited resources. The God Realm, with its deep foundations, had yet to show severe symptoms due to the short time frame. But what about a hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand years from now? How many new Heavenly Deities had been born after those from forty years ago reached the end of their lifespans? The number of Heavenly Deities was already negligible, not to mention God Kings and Conferred God Kings! If this truly continued, how much life would remain in the God Realm? He dared not even imagine it. Could this truly be the result of a fragmented Heavenly Dao?

"But isn't there the Spiritual Energy Tide?" Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask. "I heard that each time it arrives, it brings a vast amount of resources..."

The Spiritual Energy Tide was essentially a surge of spiritual energy that occurred every ten years. Each time it came, it brought countless resources, enabling plants in the wilderness, which would otherwise perish, to continue their existence. This was why Mount Lingji, despite not having seen spiritual energy for many years, still had considerable vegetation stubbornly clinging to life.

"If we compare the God Realm to this building," Master Kong explained, "the Heavenly Dao would be the pillars supporting the roof. With two of those pillars now split between you and me, the roof will eventually collapse with a thunderous crash.""The Spiritual Energy Tide," Master Kong continued, "is like a makeshift prop. While it can momentarily slow down the collapse, it's inherently fragile and cannot sustain things for long. What's more, each tide incites turmoil within the God Realm, as countless beings resort to any means necessary to acquire resources. It might appear to maintain stability, but it actually accelerates the Realm's demise. Do you know how many deities, Heavenly Deities, and God Kings perish in the God Realm during each Spiritual Energy Tide?"

Zhang Xuan shook his head. This kind of information was a secret of the God Realm; no books he had read before had ever recorded it.

"The number of deities and Heavenly Deities is uncountable, and there's no way to count them. I'll just tell you the number of God Kings and Conferred God Kings before the Spiritual Energy Tide, and you'll understand!" Master Kong said, "At that time, there were over three hundred Conferred God Kings and over a thousand God Kings across the Nine Heavens!"

"Three hundred, a thousand?" Zhang Xuan's body trembled. In the current God Realm, there were only around thirty Conferred God Kings and just over a hundred God Kings. This meant that the entire God Realm had lost nine-tenths of its peak powerhouses. If so many peak experts had perished, how many Heavenly Deities must have died?

"The Heavenly Dao of the God Realm cannot continue to be fragmented. If it remains dispersed among us, this tragic situation will persist, the world will continue to be turbulent, and deities will never again live well..." A sense of profound compassion appeared in Master Kong's eyes. This was certainly not a scenario he wished to see.

"But... to save the world, one of you must be sacrificed?" Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth. "Can't you... collectively maintain the Heavenly Dao's operation?" Was there truly no compromise? Since the Heavenly Dao could be divided, could it not be managed separately?

"Naturally not! The Heavenly Dao is perfectly round and fluid, like Tai Chi. Only by merging and uniting can it stabilize the world and prevent changes. How could it be controlled if separated?" Master Kong looked at him. "It's like a wooden barrel... if all the staves aren't joined together but hold water individually, how much can they hold?"

Zhang Xuan remembered something and looked at him with doubt. "If that's the principle, then why didn't Luo Ruoxi kill me when she was on the Master Teacher Continent and knew I controlled a part of the Heavenly Dao? And Master Kong, you... if you were to kill me now and take my portion of the Heavenly Dao, wouldn't your chances of winning be significantly higher?"Although this might seem insensitive, it was a logical question. If, as Master Kong described, their conflict was for the Heavenly Dao and to rescue the beings of the God Realm, why hadn't she acted back then? When they first met, to an Emperor like Luo Ruoxi, he was nothing more than an ant from a lower realm, and there was no emotional connection. If killing him could grant greater power and save more lives, she certainly would have done it. And, setting her aside, in the present situation, wouldn't Master Kong become even more powerful if he acquired the Heavenly Dao Library from him, eventually surpassing Luo Ruoxi and winning this contest? Controlling the complete Heavenly Dao—becoming a true 'fated one'—was an immense, almost irresistible temptation for anyone, especially when it wasn't about personal survival but the countless lives in the God Realm.

"Kill you?" Master Kong looked over, his eyes flickered, and he sighed. "If killing you could save the common people, I would willingly bear any sin, endure any pain. But unfortunately... no! At least, not yet!"