Chapter 1207 — The Primordial Qi of the Grand Beginning

A chill of awe rose in Gao Huaitong's heart, and he held not the slightest contempt for the First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign.

The Xiao Heavenly Venerate had always spoken highly of the Dao Realm system of Kaihuang, believing that it filled the most crucial gap in the Heavenly Palace system. That system had been founded by the Yu Heavenly Venerate, deduced and extended by the Mu and Hao Heavenly Venerates, and perfected by countless later generations.

Yet it had one grave flaw: its paramount emphasis on strength. Every time a cultivator stepped into a higher realm within it, his power would leap forward enormously—a leap grounded in the Longhan Heaven Court, which had become the emblem of the Dao to every deity who ascended into the Divine Realm.

But this way of cultivation ignored an understanding of the Dao. The Dao Realm system of Kaihuang Shenye was precisely what made up for that deficiency. It exalted the comprehension of the Dao, entering deeper and deeper into the Dao until one approached its very essence, then joining that understanding with the overwhelming power of the Heavenly Palace system—so that one's might and cultivation would both soar to new heights!

Gao Huaitong also found himself agreeing with the Xiao Heavenly Venerate, and his agreement was grounded in the day Kaihuang had split the Heaven Court with a single sword.

On that day, when Kaihuang struck the Heaven Court and cleft it with one blow, every deity had felt the tremor and terror that came with the rending. Of course, the Heaven Court had not been split fully open, so the tremor and terror lasted only a brief moment. Once it passed, most deities put the matter out of their minds.

Gao Huaitong was one of the few who did not. He had felt, with unspeakable intensity, that his Dao heart had nearly cracked—the shock to his spirit was beyond anything he had ever known.

If the Heaven Court truly had been split apart, what would have become of all the deities under heaven? Would their Dao hearts have collapsed?

Would their Heavenly Palaces have lost their divine power? That was the most dreadful thought of all. He also came to realize that Kaihuang's Dao Realm system could precisely compensate for this.

If he cultivated both systems together, then even if the Heaven Court were destroyed, his Dao heart would not shatter with it.

But at present, he was still at the groping stage—only just initiated into the Dao Realm.

When he saw the bearing of the First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, he knew at once that this was a grand master of the Dao Realm system.

He felt not a trace of negligence, and bowed, saying, "Please enlighten me, fellow Daoist.

"

The two greeted each other, and then struck without hesitation!

Gao Huaitong only displayed the cultivation of the Empyrean Realm, but his opening move was a great divine power of the Imperial Throne.

Behind him, Heavenly Palaces crashed forth one after another—a thousand palaces and ten thousand halls, tier upon tier, towering like mountains! He knew exactly how formidable the Dao Realm system was: one layer of Dao Realm was one heaven, and one heaven held one divine power.

If he tested his opponent with caution, by the time the other unleashed his profound Dao Realm, he might be left with bitter regret.

The First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, was as calm and composed as ever. He swept his hands in a circle and drew them inward, and instantly the scene became one of heaven crumbling and earth cracking, with him standing at the center of the ruined world like a pillar of bronze.

The Heaven-Earth Heart-Sage Art!

His divine power was the mark of an era—the era when rites had collapsed and music had been lost, when demons danced wildly, when heaven and earth had shattered. He would establish a heart for heaven and earth, and ordain a mandate for the people!

As their divine powers collided, Gao Huaitong felt as if he had been thrown into a vast, sweeping cataclysm. The divine power he had released became part of the other's collapsing heaven and earth, turning into fuel that swelled his opponent's technique. The First Ancestor's Heaven-Earth Heart-Sage Art was exactly such a martial art and divine power.

In that age, when he was young and weak, he could only harness the great might of heaven and earth's destruction to fight his enemies. Any attack from an enemy would become a part of his own strength. This art grew stronger in battle, fiercer with every exchange!

But Gao Huaitong was, after all, an existence at the Imperial Throne Realm.

Realizing what was happening, he changed his divine power without delay and let out a long roar. "Innate Primordial Qi!

"

His divine power shifted drastically, giving the impression of ten thousand Daos merging into a single stream that drove straight in, leaving the First Ancestor nothing to borrow.

Shen Mu's expression flickered, and his gaze went to Yan Qiling. Yan Qiling had once executed a similar divine power—one that should have been derived from the Heavenly Emperor's own Dao. This Innate Primordial Qi gave Shen Mu the feeling that it was the Heavenly Emperor's genuine skill.

But how could the Heavenly Emperor have transmitted his genuine skill to Gao Huaitong and Yan Qiling? "What the Xiao Heavenly Venerate taught them must be a fragment," Shen Mu thought. "But even a fragment is not to be underestimated.

"

He grew solemn.

If the Xiao Heavenly Venerate himself were to unleash the Innate Primordial Qi, the might.

.

.

A chill of awe ran through his heart.

The Xiao Heavenly Venerate might very well be one of the most formidable among the Ten Heavenly Venerates! Gao Huaitong's divine power was overwhelmingly domineering, breaking the First Ancestor's technique in an instant.

At the same time, however, the First Ancestor's divine power changed—it no longer borrowed the might of heaven and earth's collapse.

Instead, it became a Dao heart like fire fed with boiling oil, a single spark setting the plain ablaze.

His Dao heart transformed, and his divine power transformed with it.

He excelled at hand seals, and had already entered the Dao during the Kaihuang Cataclysm twenty thousand years ago.

Now his attainment in the Dao was deeper.

Yet unlike the Dao-entering divine power he had comprehended in that great catastrophe, his present divine power revealed a spirit of bold enterprise and world-transforming ambition—something that smashed all obstacles, meeting Gao Huaitong head-on with sheer hardness. Gao Huaitong's divine power was like a long wind cleaving waves: one gust, ten thousand sprays, ten thousand crests. Its reach was immense, its might vast.

The First Ancestor's hand seals were more restrained, their effective range no more than a few inches, but when the power erupted, it was horrifying.

This was the style of the Kaihuang Era.

Divine powers of that era were always restrained—not seeking size, but seeking compactness, unleashing one's might to the extreme within the smallest space. Shen Mu watched with delight, his eyebrows dancing. He was rather curious about the First Ancestor's present strength.

He had not seen the First Ancestor for many years. Back then, the First Ancestor was already at the Jade Capital Realm.

Though his realm was not considered high in a place like the Heaven Court, his strength was very great. The fastest period of his cultivation and strength had been at the end of the Kaihuang Era, when he led countless races and the human race in flight, fleeing to Jingping.

In that time, he had leapt from an obscure prince to an expert of the God-Slaying Terrace Realm, establishing the Dao with his divine power.

His combat strength was fearsome, and he was honored as the Human Sovereign, with limitless prospects. For the following twenty thousand years, his cultivation had stagnated.

With no one left to protect, he had sunk into grief and self-reproach.