Chapter 1338: Merging with the Dao

The Cultivation World.

Qinghe and others stood atop Tianmen Peak, anxiously awaiting the battle's outcome.

"How's the fight going?!" Jiang Lianyi paced frantically, unable to stay still for a moment.

Qinghe noticed that only Yun Mengmeng, unlike the others, gazed blankly at the sky.

"Mengmeng, what are you looking at?"

Yun Mengmeng pointed up at the night sky: "The stars."

"What stars?" Qinghe asked, perplexed, then followed her gaze, her pupils constricting.

The stars in the night sky successively dimmed and extinguished, no longer able to illuminate the starfield.

The stellar universe collapsed, all laws perished, and the Great Dao's principles intertwined, becoming a sky filled with starlight that resembled an apocalypse. Even powerful immortals found it difficult to intervene in this battle.

Facing Yunzhi, who was growing increasingly powerful, the mastermind's pressure surged. The immense power gained from nearing the Dao Integration realm was terrifying; to be able to fight him on equal footing before fully integrating was astounding. What would happen if she truly achieved Dao Integration?!

Yunzhi seemed to have become the embodiment of heaven and earth itself; every action was a manifestation of the world's will. The immense power of the universe sided with Yunzhi, as did destiny, making her incredibly formidable.

"How is this possible!" the mastermind exclaimed, his face showing disbelief.

Omniscience, Transcendence, and Dao Integration were the three parallel realms above immortals. Yunzhi should only be his true opponent once she reached the Dao Integration realm. How could she possess such a terrifying aura just by nearing it?!

"Because your path is wrong!" the Undying Immortal seized the moment, throwing a punch that landed squarely on the mastermind's face.

"The method of transcendence you achieved was not the true path; it was merely a shortcut!"

"The true way to transcend is to continuously comprehend the Dao Fruit, eliminate all karmic ties, become a vessel for rules, and separate from the mortal world to sever all karma!" the Undying Immortal declared, causing a tremor in the mastermind's heart.

As the pioneer of the Dao Fruit system, the Undying Immortal had not only seen the method to achieve Omniscience but also the path to Transcendence.

Achieving Transcendence didn't require slaughter. By calmly refining the Dao Fruit, the transcendent realm would naturally unfold, with no need for such drastic measures as wiping out all life!

"Silence!" the mastermind roared. To achieve transcendence, he had caused boundless slaughter, and even his former friends had fallen by his blade. This was what he least wanted to be reminded of. Now, for the Undying Immortal to claim his method was wrong was unbearable!

"Your deliberate pursuit of realms, your haste, is destined to fail!" the Undying Immortal added. She saw a reflection of her past self in the mastermind, stubbornly pursuing the ultimate realm and falling into a lower state.

In contrast, when she severed her past self and achieved the Undying Immortal position, her state of mind was peaceful, she enjoyed the pleasure of cultivation, and could see more paths clearly.

She hadn't mentioned these things in ancient times because she believed that cultivation was endless, and blindly pursuing realms would make one a slave to them, leading to mental problems, let alone transcendence.

The Undying Immortal saw that after Ying Tianxian and the other three became immortals, they didn't seem eager to continue cultivating. Speaking of it would only put pressure on them.

Her achievement of Omniscience was not a deliberate pursuit but a natural outcome, a matter of course. She hadn't even expected to become omniscient.

The chaotic battle between the three had devolved into a pure clash of Great Daos. The mastermind vomited blood, and immortal blood exploded across the sky, transforming into a chaotic mist. Wherever it passed, space collapsed, forming black holes.

Pfft—

Yunzhi and the Undying Immortal were also severely wounded, blood trickling from their lips.

The Immortal of Time opened his Heavenly Eye. This battle had reached a point that made him uneasy, and he wanted to see its future.

As his Heavenly Eye opened and closed, the future was an endless chaos; heavenly secrets and karma were completely invisible. Not only could he not discern the outcome of the battle, but he couldn't even see what would happen in the very next moment!

"Isn't Fellow Daoist Yunzhi's body acting strange?" the Kirin Immortal, whose eyesight was the best, said with a frown.

The battlefield of the three was already enveloped in dazzling light and absolute darkness. They could only discern which side had the upper hand by observing the changes in aura.

The Kirin Immortal noticed Yunzhi's body color changing, becoming somewhat faded, like a freshly painted picture immersed in clear river water, with the pigments dissolving.

"Indeed." After the Kirin Immortal pointed it out, the others also noticed Yunzhi's anomaly.

They had never witnessed such a transformation; it was almost as if... she was merging with heaven and earth!

Thump—thump—

A strange sound appeared in everyone's ears, like someone's heartbeat, but it was fleeting. They spread their immortal consciousness but caught nothing.

Only Lu Yang knew that this was his Senior Sister's heartbeat. By integrating her body with the Dao and her heart with heaven, Senior Sister was gradually becoming "Heaven."

The battle situation changed in an instant. Yunzhi's aura surged several times, finally completely overwhelming the mastermind's aura. The entire universe became her domain, and all cosmic beings could feel her presence.

Yunzhi closed her eyes, but her perception extended infinitely. She sensed the mastermind before her, sensed Yun Mengmeng sitting on Tianmen Peak, knees hugged, watching the stars, and sensed the farthest corners of the universe, places unexplored by the cultivation world, where massive numbers of life-bearing stars still existed. The every movement of these beings was within Yunzhi's perception.

She raised her hand and gently clenched her fist. At this moment, she *was* heaven and earth itself. The natural forces of the universe were mobilized by her mere thought. The stars filling the sky transformed into a furnace, igniting the primordial fire of heaven and earth to refine the mastermind.

The mastermind roared, and the stellar furnace exploded, the primordial fire of heaven and earth extinguishing. He possessed the Five Elements Dao Fruit, and the primordial fire was also within the scope of the Five Elements, rendering it ineffective against him!

As for the myriad stars, they belonged to the Earth and Metal elements, also within the scope of the Five Elements Dao Fruit!

The next moment, Yunzhi's aura vanished, and her body became increasingly transparent, like a clear, ethereal water figure.

If one used their immortal consciousness to perceive her, they would find Yunzhi's presence utterly undetectable!

The mastermind felt a chilling dread, as if he wasn't facing a person, but the supreme heavens, and he himself was an abominable being daring to defy the heavens!

In its final transformation, even the water figure disappeared, leaving only a graceful silhouette.

The silhouette's expression was indiscernible, yet it exuded an incredibly terrifying coldness.

"Cloudfall."

The silhouette spoke, its voice colder than Yunzhi's usual tone. A massive hand, formed from the Great Dao of principles, struck the mastermind. He vomited blood, his face showing disbelief—this was the heaviest injury he had sustained since the start of their battle!

His vitality was terrifyingly strong; he recovered in the blink of an eye, as if completely unharmed.

He stared intently at the silhouette, his expression solemn, certain that Yunzhi had indeed achieved Dao Integration.

The gap between Dao Integration and Transcendence shouldn't be this vast. Had he truly taken the wrong path?

"Oh, Little Zhi's stars have all gone out," Yun Mengmeng said, pointing at the last dimming star in the night sky.

"Who's Little Zhi?" Qinghe asked from beside her.