Chapter 37: The Venerable Dan

Whoosh, whoosh.

The burly man and Ji Ning flew one after the other into the divine temple.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning looked around. Before him were lakes of magma, beside which grew strange trees as green as jade. Ji Ning could not even identify their origin.

By the edge of a magma lake stood an ordinary-looking stone house. Inside, a figure sat cross-legged, motionless, having sat for who knows how many chaos cycles.

"Master." The burly man walked over and said respectfully, "A nominal disciple has been selected."

Ji Ning instantly guessed that the figure sitting cross-legged in the stone house was likely the remnant divine thought of the deceased Dominator, retaining only fragments of memory.

Inside the pitch-black stone house, the seated figure suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were like two vast cosmic passages, instantly causing Ji Ning to lose himself.

"My disciple, if you achieve eternity through dao-merging, let the grace of my teaching today be repaid to the 'Venerable Dan.'" A somewhat wistful and complex voice came from the stone house.

Whoosh.

Immediately, a rainbow light flew out from the seated figure. The moment it touched Ji Ning, it burrowed into his body. The seated figure dimmed slightly, and with a rumble, the stone door closed shut.

Ji Ning stood there, images flooding his mind.

Among those images were scenes of the burly man practicing swordsmanship when he was still weak, as well as scenes of him becoming a Ancestral God, a World-level cultivator, a Dao Lord, and an Emperor Lord...

The sword arts grew from weak to strong, until they completely surpassed Ji Ning's imagination. This 'Dominator' had also perfectly combined two supreme daos at the World level. Though slightly inferior to Ji Ning, the gap was not too great.

What was even more remarkable was that he achieved eternity and was honored as a Dominator! An Eternal Emperor of this level could not be challenged by even the most heaven-defying Dao Lords, for they themselves had been the most heaven-defying Dao Lords in their Dao Lord days; as Emperor Lords, they were even more formidable.

"Such powerful sword arts." Ji Ning was dazzled and entranced. His mind was filled with sword strikes of unimaginable might, some surpassing the influence of the dao, possessing an uncanny magic.

One sword strike, even across a distance of ten or a hundred territories, could transcend the barriers of time and space to slay an enemy.

One sword strike could even reverse time and space, returning to past ages, yet it could not truly resurrect the beings of those past ages.

...

The ancient region of the alternate universe, the inner domain of the origin place of the entire universe, was a place of profound mystery. The thirty-five corpses of Eternal Emperor-level powers there were not the most mysterious or important.

To the living Eternal powers, they did not care much about the dead Eternal powers, at most showing some concern for universe treasures.

What the living cared about were the secrets of the 'origin of the universe'! It was by leveraging these that the Lord of the Destroying God Court had risen to become the strongest being in the entire universe, unifying it.

"Whoosh."

A figure in black gauze flew through the sky, crossing the origin chain between the outer and inner domains, and continued flying within the inner domain world.

"What?"

"How is that possible?"

"Wasn't it said that to enter the inner domain, one must walk the origin chain?"

At one end of an origin chain stood eighteen World-level cultivators and three Dao Lords. Among them was 'Fire Jin Water Lord', a World-level cultivator who had wandered the outer domain for some time and gained considerable harvests. Feeling he had made great progress, he attempted to cross the origin chain again, but this time he failed after advancing nine hundred li.

"How can she fly over?" Fire Jin Water Lord watched in disbelief as the graceful figure flew through the sky.

As the black-gauze figure flew, time and space seemed unable to affect her. Though appearing slow, she quickly vanished from the sight of those World-level cultivators and Dao Lords.

"World-level cultivators and Dao Lords must walk the origin chain. Otherwise, they would surely be sucked down by the abyss... To dare ignore the origin chain and fly directly into the inner domain, that must be an Eternal Emperor."

"Yes, definitely an Eternal Emperor."

"Which Emperor Lord is this?"

These Dao Lords and World-level cultivators quickly guessed. Eternal Emperors were extremely rare. The only Eternal Emperors living in the origin place were two: Emperor Lord Fubo and Emperor Lord Beipu. But the graceful figure just now was clearly neither of them.

"Which Eternal Emperor could this be?"

"I consider myself well-traveled, but I can't think of who it might be. Could it be a newly successful Eternal Emperor who achieved dao-merging? But if any Dao Lord succeeded in merging the dao to achieve eternity, the news would likely spread throughout the Destroying God Court." The Dao Lords and World-level cultivators speculated in confusion, but they silently noted the black-gauze graceful figure as a great existence 'absolutely not to be provoked.'

...

Inner domain world.

The thirty-five ancient corpses were scattered in various places. Before the corpses of the three sword dao powers,

The white-robed silver-eyed man stood silently, observing carefully: "There must have been some special fluctuation just now... Could the legendary secret of the universe's origin be hidden nearby?"

The white-robed silver-eyed man probed cautiously. Anything involving the secrets of the origin would drive any great power mad. The example of the Lord of the Destroying God Court was right before them; who wouldn't be driven mad?

"Whoosh."

Wind blew.

A figure appeared.

"What?" The white-robed silver-eyed man trembled with fear, his face changing color. "How is it possible that I had no sense or warning before she appeared right beside me?"

He was a four-step Dao Lord, renowned far and wide. He had once fought fiercely under an Eternal Emperor and escaped, a feat that impressed many Dao Lords.

He slowly turned his head to look beside him. About ten zhang away stood a graceful figure. She was clad in black gauze, radiating an endless, cold aura. Standing there, she seemed like the source of a world.

Everything around her seemed to naturally submit, with her as the center.

"Ancient Star Lord, Venerable Dan?" The white-robed silver-eyed man trembled in fear and immediately knelt prostrate. "This junior pays respects to the Star Lord."

In the Destroying God Court, the highest status belonged to the Lord of the Destroying God Court, who had unified the entire universe.

Next were the Sixteen Star Lords.

Each of the Sixteen Star Lords was unfathomable, but the most mysterious and powerful were the three Ancient Star Lords! They were distinguished from the other thirteen and called 'Ancient Star Lords' because they had existed since the birth of the universe.

The Lord of the Destroying God Court's master, 'White Emperor', was one of the three Ancient Star Lords.

And 'Venerable Dan' was also one of the three Ancient Star Lords. She was even more mysterious, rarely appearing, like a dragon that showed its head but not its tail. Even Eternal Emperors generally found it difficult to seek an audience, but those with some status in the universe usually remembered the appearance of 'Venerable Dan'.

Clad in black gauze, eternally cold and aloof, her face was forever shrouded in an invisible mist, impossible to see clearly.

"What exactly happened..." The black-gauze graceful figure gazed into the distance at the corpse of the burly man leaning on a giant sword, her expression complex. "That suddenly stirred my heart?"

"Big brother, don't worry."

"Don't worry."

"I will reverse time and space to revive you. Big brother, second brother, third brother..." The black-gauze graceful figure murmured softly. She had murmured for far too long, her gaze entirely fixed on the burly man leaning on the giant sword.

Suddenly, her expression changed, and the surrounding aura began to tremble.

The inner domain world of the origin place was no ordinary place. Here, even Ji Ning and Dao Lords could not fly! Such was the terrifying binding force. Yet this black-gauze graceful figure, with just a change of expression, caused the surrounding aura to tremble, and all daos seemed to quiver as if to retreat.

Where I stand, all daos retreat!

The white-robed silver-eyed man watching felt a chill in his heart. Truly worthy of being one of the three Ancient Star Lords! Legend had it that the three Ancient Star Lords simply did not care for power struggles, allowing the Lord of the Destroying God Court to rise later. It was said that the strength of the three Ancient Star Lords was not inferior to that of the Court Lord.

But these were just legends. After all, the three Ancient Star Lords had existed since the birth of the universe, and it was said they knew the secrets of the universe's origin.

"What's going on? Everything was fine just now, and there's no change around." The white-robed silver-eyed man was puzzled.

But the black-gauze graceful figure 'Venerable Dan' beside him looked at the treasures placed before the burly man in the distance. To others, even Dao Lords, nothing seemed amiss.

But Venerable Dan could see through the restrictions that one of the treasures placed there was already missing.

"Missing one? Who took it?" Venerable Dan's gaze swept in all directions, the entire inner domain world within her sight.

"Tell me, what happened here?" Venerable Dan stared at the white-robed silver-eyed man.

"I..." The white-robed silver-eyed man didn't know what to say.

Whoosh.

A handsome white-robed youth carrying a sword on his back suddenly stepped out from the void.

...