The Dao is divided into nine tiers, and the laws are not to be passed outside.
For ordinary mortals, stepping into the Middle Three Tiers means wielding abilities akin to those of immortals. But for true cultivators, only those who enter the Upper Three Tiers can be called true immortals.
Third Tier: Profound Realm.
Second Tier: Daoist Shore Realm.
First Tier: Celestial Vastness Realm, said to be omnipotent, undying and indestructible and beyond the Five Elements.
In Chen Kuang's experience, the claim of omnipotence was certainly exaggerated, but undying, indestructible, and beyond the Five Elements, those had some truth to them.
A Saint does not enter reincarnation, and as such, can indeed be considered undying and imperishable.
The prerequisite, however, is that the Saint's divine soul must remain intact at the moment of death.
If, at the moment of death, both soul and body are obliterated together, then even a Saint cannot live a second life.
The Sword Saint who passed away atop Void Chamber Mountain had died precisely in this manner.
Yet even Saints are only considered Second Tier, not the pinnacle.
After the fall of the myriad nations in the ancient era, no First Tier cultivators of the Celestial Vastness Realm, had ever reappeared in Cangyuan.
Gradually, people lost even the concept of how powerful a Celestial Vastness Realm truly was. No one could reach such a realm, and the scattered scraps of records left behind from the ancient era weren't enough to piece together the might of Celestial Vastness.
And now, before the eyes of these three, it seemed that a figure from the legends, a First Tier Celestial Vastness Realm, had truly appeared once again!
To make a Dao Lord of the Profound Realm vanish in the blink of an eye, not even a Saint could do that!
And now, they finally understood where the Dao Lords who had originally been inside the Hall of Moral Virtue had gone, they had likely been "sent away" by this Wen Yao using the same method, moments ago.
This must have been the true plan behind the Martial Saint's design.
Have Wen Yao use his Double-Pupil Eyes to summon an ancestor to possess him, one from Bitian Mansion, then take advantage of the mechanisms within the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation to replace that ancestor.
And by relying on the battlefield's ability to naturally harmonize with identities, he could use the Double-Pupil Eyes a second time, to summon yet another ancestor.
And this time, Wen Yao could surpass the two-thousand-year limit of his own bloodline, using one foot to step upon the other, trace back his ancestry to the ancient era, and summon the legendary ancestor of the celestial vastness realm.
As for why this couldn't be done in the real world... Chen Kuang speculated that the reason a celestial vastness realm expert hadn't reappeared all these years wasn't because cultivators lacked talent, but perhaps because after the War to Hunt the Heavens, the loss of "Heavenly Fate" had altered the rules of Heaven and Earth.
In other words, the world itself might no longer support the existence of the celestial vastness realm.
But in the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation, the laws were different, it had its own internal logic.
The Martial Saint had likely discovered that the battlefield's logic did allow for the existence of a Celestial Vastness Realm!
That was why he had made all those arrangements during his month of seclusion, to allow Wen Yao to achieve this goal.
But Chen Kuang didn't understand why.
Was it simply to have Wen Yao summon a Celestial Vastness Realm?
Impossible.
Even if summoned, it would be nothing more than a phantom within the battlefield illusion, he couldn't take it out into the real world.
To gain enlightenment?
If that was the case, why destroy the teleportation jades of the other participants?
Was it to gain more spectators?
Or... was it that the Martial Saint simply wanted to use this opportunity to kill off the geniuses of the other sects?
But if so, wouldn't the Martial Saint Pavilion become the target of everyone's wrath?
Even if the Martial Saint harbored such ambition, could he really withstand the revenge of almost all the major sects in Cangyuan?
Chen Kuang couldn't figure it out.
But more importantly, this person before them now had already begun his massacre.
Wen Yao stood in mid-air. With a wave of his hand, a Dao Lord of the Profound Realm vanished. But he wasn't done, his gaze continued sweeping across the battlefield below, seemingly searching for something.
Chen Kuang stayed alert, though he was a bit confused.
"He's looking for someone?"
Jiang Yunqing said softly, "He's probably looking for us."
Chen Kuang gauged the distance, it was no more than a hundred zhang from Fuli Suspended City to Wen Yao's current position.
That close, and he still needed to search?
Could it be that the Double-Pupil Eyes were... nearsighted?
Chen Kuang internally cracked a joke.
Of course, it was just a joke. At this level of cultivation, even without eyesight, one could still sense surroundings through divine sense.
A hundred zhang distance should feel no different than standing right in front of someone...
Yet Wen Yao still had to search?
Chen Kuang looked at Jiang Yunqing. But he shook his head, saying, "I focused solely on the sword path. I never studied the Double-Pupil Eyes in depth."
"And the Martial Saint Pavilion has always been extremely secretive about Wen Yao's Double-Pupil Eyes, hiding everything, never leaking a single detail."
Chen Kuang nodded in understanding.
A trump card like this should, of course, be kept secret. Once everyone knew, it would no longer be a trump card.
The gap in information, at times, was enough to determine life and death.
Unfortunately... right now, they were the ones suffering from that gap.
Their enemy was shrouded in complete mystery.
Suddenly, Shen Meinan spoke, explaining, "The Double-Pupil Eyes do have limitations. In the Ancestor-Summoning state, they become unable to discern the present. What they see becomes entirely composed of 'past lives.'"
"In other words, Wen Yao currently perceives himself to be fighting in some ancient battlefield. Even his senses follow that reality."
"To find us, he must distinguish what in the illusion is real and what is not."
Jiang Yunqing nodded: "So that's how it is..."
This limitation was indeed a significant weakness, and it explained why the Double-Pupil Eyes were so overwhelmingly powerful.
Jiang Yunqing quickly understood:
"Then we're still relatively safe for now. As long as we can continue to avoid being discovered, we can wait until the battlefield ends?"
Shen Meinan nodded, "In theory, yes."
But Chen Kuang stared at her in a daze, deep in thought.
How does Shen Meinan know this...?
It wasn't that he looked down on the silly girl, but her own cultivation was merely in the Innate Realm, among the many geniuses, she couldn't even make a splash.
The Shen Clan didn't seem to have invested many resources into her either, letting her develop freely. More importantly, Shen Meinan had once said she had been taught the typical manners and skills of a noble lady since childhood.
That meant the Shen Clan had no plans for her to be involved in struggle and conflict.
In other words, she shouldn't know this kind of information.
Especially when even Jiang Yunqing didn't know about the Double-Pupil Eyes.
...
It was highly likely that even the upper ranks of the Shen Clan weren't privy to this knowledge.
Though noble clans commanded great momentum due to their internal unity, their status was far beneath that of sects.
Among the factions participating in the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation, the Shen Clan was the only noble clan present, this alone proved the point.
So how had Shen Meinan acquired such information?
A question mark flashed through Chen Kuang's mind.
But then, looking at Shen Meinan's familiar eyes, he shook his head. Perhaps he was overthinking it.
After all, Shen Meinan was not only the second daughter of the Shen Clan, she was also Shen Xingzhu's younger sister, and the preselected core disciple of the Mysterious Divine Path Sect.
It wasn't strange for her to know some secrets.
Chen Kuang's gaze returned to Wen Yao, a growing sense of unease swelling within him.
He muttered, "In theory... yes."
His gaze turned sharp: "But what if the 'reality' he's in... is a sealed space, with a fixed number of people?"
Shen Meinan and Jiang Yunqing looked at each other, and in that instant, understood what Chen Kuang meant.
"If he just kills everyone inside that sealed space, then he's eliminated all possible targets... It doesn't matter whether he can distinguish them or not!"
Chen Kuang's eyes were grim.
If one removed all other variables, and assumed that the Martial Saint's true goal was to eliminate the other young elites, then destroying their teleportation jades served only one purpose:
To make it easier for Wen Yao to trap and slaughter them.
The entire Ancient Battlefield of Meditation was the jar, and as long as they couldn't escape...
They would all die.
...
Some time earlier, before the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation was activated.
Mount Tai, Martial Saint Pavilion.
Having just exited the battlefield, Mu Zhao looked toward the approaching Wen Hongsheng, asking, "Has Yao'er gone in?"
Wen Hongsheng respectfully nodded. "He has. If this goes well, he should break through to Grandmaster."
His tone held pride.
Wen Yao was his biological son. Since discovering that he was born with the Double-Pupil Eyes, he had been nurtured with utmost care, destined for greatness.
Now, with the Martial Saint Pavilion pouring nearly all its resources into him, at only twenty-one years old, he had already reached the peak of Moon-Embracing Realm, half a step into Grandmaster.
Although not as famous as Jiang Yunqing, in terms of actual strength, he had long surpassed him.
Wen Hongsheng had been polishing his son's temperament, instructing him to hide his brilliance, never revealing the full extent of his power.
Thus, at the Canglang Evaluation, he always ranked third.
But Wen Hongsheng believed: his son would eventually surpass even the so-called "Dao Beacon," Shen Xingzhu.
And this time, the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation was the perfect opportunity.
Mu Zhao gave him a glance, then shook his head and sighed. "Wen Hongsheng... you disappoint me."
Startled, Wen Hongsheng broke into a cold sweat, quickly kneeling on one knee.
"Have I done something to anger the Martial Saint? If so, I..."
Mu Zhao interrupted him. "You've always been called a 'martial dragon among scholars,' a strategist without equal. And that... is both your strength and your weakness."
"In the past, you were just Moon-Embracing Realm, yet stronger cultivators surrounded you. But you were the first to suggest creating the Martial Saint Pavilion, to let the world look up to me as if to a mountain. I knew then, you were a rare talent."
"But the more one thinks, the more one becomes trapped by thought. So many years, so many pills, so many resources poured into you. And still... you're just a Grandmaster."
"Timid and hesitant, you will never achieve greatness."
Wen Hongsheng, now on both knees, trembled all over. He didn't dare breathe.
For all these years, he had ruled the Martial Saint Pavilion with the strength of a Grandmaster, always walking on eggshells. He knew his cultivation wasn't enough. His talent was limited. He'd merely been the first to step up and earn the Martial Saint's trust.
But the Pavilion had other Profound Realm cultivators, any of them could replace him, and with greater prestige.
Mu Zhao patted his shoulder. "But your son is different."
Wen Hongsheng froze.
Mu Zhao continued, "He is a true genius. Destined to become a Saint."
Of course Wen Hongsheng knew that. His son was his life's greatest achievement.
But that was why he found the Martial Saint's sudden mention of it... strange.
Mu Zhao looked at him again. "Before I entered the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation, I met with Yao'er alone."
Wen Hongsheng knew this, he had assumed it was advice on cultivation.
But now... it seemed there was more.
Mu Zhao clasped his hands behind his back and stared toward the activated battlefield. "Since it's already destined, why not speed up the process a little?"
He murmured, "The Martial Saint Pavilion... needs a second Saint."
A second Saint?!
Wen Hongsheng's pupils contracted. "But... but Yao'er is only half a step into Grandmaster..."
Mu Zhao smiled. "You're a Grandmaster yourself. Do you know how to prove your Dao?"
Wen Hongsheng answered, "One must affirm a Dao path, establish heart, then establish action. Through action, one proves the Dao, and earns the recognition of Heaven and Earth..."
Halfway through, he paused, swallowing hard.
"In theory, if one's actions earn Heaven's approval, in accordance with one's heart-path... one can prove the Dao."
Mu Zhao laughed. "Exactly."
He stroked his long beard. "As long as your actions are in line with your Dao, and Heaven approves, you can ascend."
"This world... can never see into your heart."
Mu Zhao's eyes gleamed with a cold madness. "When I understood that, I began to wonder, if so, then could one construct the perfect stage, and perform a 'Dao-proving' before Heaven's eyes, and be recognized by the Dao?"
"It began as a mere thought. Until... I thought of the Ancient Battlefield of Meditation."
He looked to Wen Hongsheng. "What a perfect place."
Wen Hongsheng drew in a deep breath. "You built a 'stage' within it?"
"Ha..."
Mu Zhao chuckled. "Wen Hongsheng, you've always been smart."
"I personally laid out the most perfect stage for Yao'er, a simple, direct shortcut."
"As long as he realizes it... when he emerges, he won't just be a Grandmaster, he will be..."
Mu Zhao whispered into Wen Hongsheng's ear:
"A Saint."
Wen Hongsheng asked shakily, "You've already chosen the path he will walk?"
Mu Zhao nodded, smiling. "Fear not. This path runs parallel to my own, but goes one step further."
Mu Zhao's Dao was the "Tyrant's Dao."
The path he chose for Wen Yao was, the Dao of Sole Self.
"'Sole Self'..."
Wen Yao murmured to himself.
Before his eyes was a scene from ancient times: towering trees soared into the heavens, covering the skies in a dense canopy.
Giant beasts stampeded below, roaring thunderously.
In the skies, luxurious golden palaces floated among the clouds, violet and auroral light intertwining in breathtaking splendor.
Just a moment ago, he had stood on a battlefield drenched in blood.
Now, he stood in a heavenly paradise of the ancient world.
But he knew that it was all illusion.
In a normal battle, such illusions wouldn't hinder him. As long as he seized his target, he would win.
But not this time.
He knew that his enemy was hidden among the tens of thousands on this battlefield.
The Ancestor-Summoning state of the Double-Pupil Eyes couldn't last long...
There was only one solution.
The best method and the only method.
Kill everyone on the battlefield.
Slay all enemies..
And let none remain but me.