Chapter 21: The Heartfiend Master

Ji Ning's true body was comparable to a top-grade先天 spirit-treasure. Through the Nine Extinction Annihilation, the Buddha Jueming had comprehended the mysteries of the Tathagata's Palm Technique, and was even more formidable—not only were his palms comparable to top-grade先天 spirit-treasures, but his entire body was! As for Suirenshi... his achievements in fire were so great that he had long since cultivated the means to 'transform into flame'.

Just as the Heartfiend Master transformed into a surging river, so too were Ji Ning's true body, Jueming, and Suirenshi all daring to fight the Heartfiend Master head-on.

...

The Heartfiend Master, however, utterly disregarded the Nuwa Camp. He sighed and said, "Back then, Nuwa broke through on the battlefield and became a World God, pursuing me. I had no other choice. I sensed that the Three Realms' Heavenly Dao, which was still forming, inherently contained 'heartfiend', so I immediately merged with the Heavenly Dao to escape calamity... To kill me, one would have to destroy the Three Realms, and Nuwa was obviously unwilling to do that."

"Though I escaped calamity, I was trapped within the Heavenly Dao, becoming a part of it. Even I myself thought I would forever be a part of the Heavenly Dao, until this chaos world perished and I would die along with it. But I was unwilling... truly unwilling. I kept searching, searching for a chance to break free from the Heavenly Dao."

The Heartfiend Master's gaze swept across the Nuwa Camp. "The Heavenly Dao that governs the Three Realms is composed of countless Daos: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, Yang, Life, Destruction, Chaos, as well as the Sword Dao, Taiji, Wuji, Lightning, Heartfiend, and so on. These countless Daos blend together to form the complete Heavenly Dao that operates the Three Realms."

"Later, I discovered that the Heavenly Dao is not always balanced."

"For instance, when many worlds fell trees, causing Wood in the Three Realms to gradually diminish... then, within the Heavenly Dao that governs the Three Realms, the Wood Dao would gradually weaken." The Heartfiend Master smiled.

Hearing this, Ji Ning, who was far away, was startled.

Right.

From the inheritance records of the World God Beixiu, Ji Ning also knew that chaos worlds differed. For example, if a chaos world had an abundance of fire, it was a 'Fire Chaos World', and its strongest Dao was the 'Fire Dao', which could even rival the Chaos Dao in perfection.

The Sword Dao, at the sixth level, could rival the Chaos Dao.

The Wood Dao, the Fire Dao... could all continue to develop and likewise rival the Chaos Dao.

For instance, during the evolution of a 'Fire Chaos World', due to some unforeseen factors, the entire chaos world might become desolate, filled with the aura of destruction, and could even evolve into a 'Destruction Chaos World'. The originally powerful 'Fire Dao' would weaken, and the Destruction Dao would grow stronger to become the primary Dao of that chaos world.

"Each Dao rises and falls." The Heartfiend Master smiled. "When the Three Realms fall into chaos and killings increase, the heartfiend within many living beings also grows stronger. The 'Heartfiend Dao' of the entire Three Realms will continuously strengthen."

"As the Heartfiend Dao strengthens... I found that my influence over the entire Three Realms could grow greater. I even had a feeling that if the Heartfiend Dao became strong enough, I could break free from the Three Realms. If the Heartfiend Dao... became the strongest Dao in the Three Realms, then I would be the master of the Three Realms, and my will would be the will of the Three Realms."

"But the Three Realms is just a chaos world. How could I be bound within a single chaos world? I only needed the Heartfiend Dao to be strong enough to break free."

"However... the Heavenly Dao that governs the Three Realms instinctively knows balance. I had no opportunity."

"Finally, the opportunity came."

The Heartfiend Master said smugly, "After endless years of reproduction in the Three Realms, the number of living beings grew larger and larger. There were more and more cultivators, monsters, Celestial Immortals, Heavenly Gods and True Immortals, and even Daolords. The burden on the Three Realms grew heavier and heavier. If you didn't fight among yourselves and consume each other, then more and more powerful beings would be born, increasing the burden until it might even cause the Three Realms to collapse."

"What." Everyone present was stunned.

Enough living beings could cause the Three Realms to collapse?

"Don't you understand? It's like a boat that can carry twenty people. If you put two hundred people on it, the boat will sink. The Three Realms is the same—it's just a chaos world. Look, how many Daolords are there in the Nuwa Camp and my Myriad Realms? How many immortals and demons? Especially Celestial Immortals—how many are there?" The Heartfiend Master sneered.

Both the Nuwa Camp and the Myriad Realms admitted this.

They had previously marveled that this war surpassed the ancient primordial war. But the powerful beings in that war came from two chaos worlds, while this time, so many powerful beings came from just one chaos world, the 'Three Realms'. Even if the Three Realms was special, formed from the collision of two chaos worlds, bearing so many living beings was a tremendous strain.

"The Heavenly Dao that governs the Three Realms instinctively sought a way to reduce the number of living beings within it. It sent down calamities, but it was useless... the survival abilities of immortals and demons were too strong. The calamities it sent could only kill some mortal beings. The immortals and demons could even set up great formations to protect mortals."

"Mortals reproduced, filling the Three Realms. Countless cultivators and monsters continuously trained, and more and more powerful beings emerged. If this continued... the Three Realms would be crushed into collapse."

"So I knew... the opportunity had come."

"I told the Three Realms that if it provoked a great war between the Nuwa Camp and the Myriad Realms, causing them to exhaust each other, it would surely kill off a great number of immortals and demons. This would lighten the burden on the Three Realms." The Heartfiend Master smiled. "The method to provoke their war was simple: make them sense fate and discover... that the fate in the darkness guided them—only one side, the Nuwa Camp or the Myriad Realms, could survive. To live, they had to destroy the other."

"The living beings of the Three Realms would not doubt fate."

"Hahaha... but the River of Fate of the Three Realms is merely a part of the Heavenly Dao that governs the Three Realms." The Heartfiend Master laughed heartily. "In the past, the Heavenly Dao that governed the Three Realms was naturally always fair. But when it discovered that your reproduction affected the existence of the Three Realms, it naturally guided you to kill each other. I was merely a catalyst in this."

Both the Nuwa Camp and the Myriad Realms changed color upon hearing this.

So...

So it was all a conspiracy—the Heavenly Dao that governed the Three Realms had been luring them into killing each other?

"I had the Myriad Realms stir up trouble everywhere, causing flames of war to rage across the Three Realms, with endless slaughter. At that time, heartfiend sprouted in the hearts of countless living beings." The Heartfiend Master smiled. "I even had the Myriad Realms launch large-scale assassinations against the relatives and friends of the Nuwa Camp's powerful beings, causing heartfiend to sprout in many of them. Some even died directly because their heartfiend grew too strong."

"The Three Realms fell into chaos, and heartfiend sprouted."

"The Heartfiend Dao continuously grew stronger. Although I felt my grasp growing, I kept waiting, because I knew... if I tried to break free from the Three Realms and failed the first time, the Heavenly Dao that governs the Three Realms would surely find a way to suppress me, and it would be very difficult to get a second good opportunity."

"After over a thousand years of chaos in the Three Realms, the Heartfiend Dao had become very strong."

"Finally, you went to war."

"The killing was truly good. Immortals and demons died one after another."

"Your killing intent soared to the heavens, your hatred soared to the heavens. You hated each other to the bone, but you didn't know... that when hatred soars to the heavens, heartfiend naturally sprouts. The Heartfiend Dao in the Three Realms grew even stronger." The Heartfiend Master smiled. "Nuwa left behind three clan-protecting formations, and she probably left behind methods to cultivate to the Ancestral God level. She actually produced several Ancestral Gods among you, and the formations were so powerful... The battle had just begun, and the Myriad Realms was already starting to collapse. So I decided to break free from the Three Realms."

"Hahaha... having accumulated for endless ages, my realm was already far higher than during the ancient primordial war. I struck suddenly and broke free from the Three Realms in one fell swoop."

"From now on, I am truly free and unfettered, bound by nothing."

The Heartfiend Master laughed heartily, his laughter echoing through the endless void around them. Everyone present, whether from the Nuwa Camp or the Myriad Realms, could feel the boundless ecstasy in the Heartfiend Master's heart.

A being who had been imprisoned and bound for endless ages, who had exhausted every means to find a way to escape, and had only one chance to do so...

And he had succeeded!

How excited must the Heartfiend Master be?

"Since you all understand now." The Heartfiend Master's gaze swept across the Nuwa Camp's army in the distant void. "Then you can all die."