"It has finally arrived."
The deep voice echoed through the void.
Not only in one place of the Chaos Ancient Wilds.
Similar voices rang out from several corners.
In a corner deep within the Ancient Wilds, Calamity Great Supreme slowly opened eyes that had been shut for an unknown length of time.
Golden light blazed, shining across the void.
"My Dao is about to be accomplished. In Heaven-and-Earth only I shall be supreme."
In some mysterious corner of the chaos, waves of dragon roars sounded.
Killing intent filled every roar.
"It is about time to visit some old friends."
In another stretch of void, space twisted, rolling like waves on the sea.
Countless pockets of space were born and destroyed in that instant.
A giant eye surfaced, and the chaotic void in its gaze was like a plaything.
At the junction between chaos and the Ancient Wilds lay the Wildscar.
This was where the two powers intersected and collided.
Some believed chaos was yang and real, while the Ancient Wilds were yin and illusory.
Chaos and the Ancient Wilds, each as yin and yang, real and illusory, together formed a complete Heaven-and-Earth.
The Wildscar, then, was where yin and yang intersected.
It was said that if someone could fully comprehend the Wildscar, they could see through the mysteries of Heaven-and-Earth and achieve the Great Dao.
But in truth, no one had ever seen through this secret.
With time, such theories turned into mere legend.
Of course, yin and yang, real and illusory did exist, but not in such a simple way as people claimed.
Chaos had its own yin and yang, real and illusory, and so did the Ancient Wilds.
To see through this secret, one would first have to comprehend the yin and yang, real and illusory of chaos and the Ancient Wilds respectively.
In fact, that very step was already the comprehension of the rules of Heaven-and-Earth, and its difficulty was extremely high.
In Lin Moyu's eyes, the true face of the Wildscar was actually the place where the rules of Heaven-and-Earth converged.
It was where the core of Heaven-and-Earth lay.
Only Supremes could smoothly follow the rules of Heaven-and-Earth to find the Heaven-and-Earth core.
And only Supremes could refine that Heaven-and-Earth core and then refine the entire Heaven-and-Earth, seizing it in their hands.
Going one step further was to find the Primordial Heaven Technique, master the Primordial Heaven Technique, and be able to change the rules of Heaven-and-Earth according to one's will.
These steps were like rules already laid down, strict beyond compare and seemingly impossible to overstep.
Yet Lin Moyu had completely broken those rules.
He was no Supreme, yet he possessed a soul no weaker than a Supreme's, able to see the rules clearly, and he commanded the Nine Heavens Fate Technique, which was even stronger than an ordinary Primordial Heaven Technique.
He could alter the rules of Heaven-and-Earth at will.
For him, finding the Heaven-and-Earth core or even refining it was not difficult.
It was only a question of whether he wanted to do it.
This time, as the great tribulation of Heaven-and-Earth reached its peak, one extremely important thing within the great tribulation finally surfaced: a severed tree root.
Lin Moyu watched the entire process of its emergence.
It appeared at the Wildscar not by accident, but for a reason.
The severed tree root was bathed in the purest power of Heaven-and-Earth, turning into countless vines that spread through the void and became a Shentree Sea.
The power of Heaven-and-Earth came from the Heaven-and-Earth core, and from trillions upon trillions of living beings.
When living beings died, they all returned to Heaven-and-Earth, transforming back into the power of Heaven-and-Earth, most of which was taken by this severed tree root.
In the divine wood, towering trees rose from the ground.
Each tree was immeasurably tall and immeasurably vast, covering the sky and sun.
Domains entering this place were as small as ant eggs.
"An opportunity to attain the Dao."
Lin Moyu murmured.
Within the great tribulation, there were two chances to attain the Dao.
The first was himself, the tribulation-bearer.
Killing him would give a chance to attain the Dao.
Unfortunately he was not easy to kill, and those few fellows kept each other in check, so they had never succeeded.
The second chance to attain the Dao was this severed tree root.
Obtaining and refining it would also provide a chance to attain the Dao.
If one could both kill him and obtain this tree root, combining the two, the probability of attaining the Dao would greatly increase.
However, if the tribulation-bearer obtained the chance to attain the Dao, then he would almost certainly succeed.
So Lin Moyu knew very well that when those fellows fought over the severed tree root, they still had to guard against him.
As long as he did not show himself, even if they really started fighting, they would hold back a portion of their strength.
"Truly amusing. I, who once stood on the front of the board, have instead become a man behind the scenes."
Lin Moyu smiled softly.
From this moment on, this former chess piece had completely jumped out of Calamity Great Supreme's grasp.
Calamity Great Supreme still did not know this and believed he still controlled Lin Moyu.
Lin Moyu thought of the small world where he had been born.
Although he had not yet found the small world's whereabouts, he could guess with his toes where it was.
At present, in the Chaos Ancient Wilds, there were only a few places that could hide from him.
Either in the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds, the origin place of Heaven-and-Earth, or within Calamity Great Supreme's own domain.
There was no third possibility.
Calamity Great Supreme would not kill the people of the small world.
He still needed the small world to restrain Lin Moyu.
Although Calamity Great Supreme believed he already held Lin Moyu in his hand, he was cautious as well and would think one step further.
Lin Moyu understood Calamity Great Supreme very clearly.
He felt that the small world was highly likely within Calamity Great Supreme's domain.
If this matter were switched around and given to him, he would probably do the same.
"It seems I must pay a visit to his domain."
Around Lin Moyu, countless soul particles that could not be seen by the naked eye appeared.
With his current soul level, let alone naked eyes, unless one was a Supreme, it would be impossible to sense them.
The soul particles merged into the rules and flew into the Shentree Sea, lying in ambush.
In an instant, it was as if Lin Moyu possessed countless eyes.
He not only looked down upon the entire Shentree Sea from above, but also planted countless lines of sight within it.
Endless mighty auras approached, and multitudes of living beings, attracted by the Shentree Sea, rushed toward it.
The Shentree Sea was an opportunity to attain the Dao, the strongest lure within the great tribulation.
When it surfaced, the power of the great tribulation was drawn up to its very peak.
All living beings below the Great Supreme realm were affected.
Only a few could maintain an unchanged Dao heart.
The vast majority charged over like madmen, seeking to obtain a chance to attain the Dao.
They did not know that this opportunity was not theirs.
What awaited them was only death.
As they rushed into the Shentree Sea, they came face to face with the towering giant trees of unimaginable girth.
The giant trees instantly came alive.
Branches turned into vines that lashed down, and leaves became blades that tore space and shredded the intruders.
In an instant, countless living beings perished in the Shentree Sea.
Blood filled the air and was quickly absorbed by the Shentree Sea.
The Shentree Sea expanded once more, growing larger and exuding a bloody stench.
This place was a chance to attain the Dao, but it was also a realm of cycle and return.
The living beings of Heaven-and-Earth who died here had all their vitality absorbed by the Shentree Sea, becoming its power.
Even so, living beings still streamed toward it without end.
The void shattered, and a giant eye slowly surfaced.
"They have finally come."
Lin Moyu whispered inwardly.
Dao had arrived.
He did not rush in like those brainless beings, nor did he allow his mind to be bewitched.
He simply observed in silence.
After a moment, a sharp and unpleasant soul voice abruptly rang out.
"You two, hiding and hiding, what are you afraid of?"
With his words, space shook violently.
Dao's true body was a Sky-Shrouding Beast, adept at manipulating space.
He shook the void for hundreds of millions of miles, and all those hiding within space had nowhere left to hide.
Lin Moyu was among them, but he had not hidden inside space.
At this moment Lin Moyu had not even concealed himself in the normal sense.
He had simply changed the rules and covered himself with them, evading all eyes and senses.
Even Dao had not discovered him.
In the violently quaking void, a middle-aged man in a moon gray robe slowly appeared.
Calamity Great Supreme had come.
On the other side, accompanied by dragon roars, Chaotic Wild Dragon also revealed his true body, turning into a ten-thousand-li divine dragon coiling in the void.
The three existences in the Chaos Ancient Wilds who had broken through the Great Supreme realm appeared here together.
Their vast auras shook the void.
Countless beings who had been rushing toward the Shentree Sea had their souls shaken apart by their aura before they could reach it.
The aura of the three descended from different directions and enveloped the Shentree Sea, forming an invisible barrier that blocked other beings.
Those beings were not forbidden to approach, but once they touched that invisible barrier, they would die on the spot.
Overbearing, forceful, ruthless.
Even these words were not enough to describe them, for they did not regard other living beings as anything at all.
Extra living beings were, in their eyes, no different from ants.
In the distance, sword light flashed as a quasi–Great Supreme flew in at high speed.
Before the person arrived, the sword light was already illuminating the sky.
"Split."
The sword light slashed down on the barrier, and the void roared and shook.
A quasi–Great Supreme, after all, was different from other beings and much stronger.
"Ant."
Dao's voice contained no emotional fluctuation.
He turned his huge eye on that quasi–Great Supreme.
With just one look, the quasi–Great Supreme exploded and fell on the spot.
Even a quasi–Great Supreme, in their eyes, was only a slightly larger ant.
No matter how big the ant, it was still an ant, and killing it took no effort.
Chaotic Wild Dragon's dragon roars rumbled.
"There is still someone who has not arrived. Are we three going to fight among ourselves first?"
Calamity Great Supreme sneered.
"Of course we will fight. Whether he comes or not makes no difference.
"He is not weak, but in the end, he is still only a Great Supreme."
Chaotic Wild Dragon snorted coldly.
"He is no ordinary Great Supreme.
"When he had yet to reach the Great Supreme realm, this Honored One could not kill him even after trying again and again."
Dao suddenly cut in.
"That is because you are too useless."
Chaotic Wild Dragon clearly grew angry.
"This Honored One had concerns at that time.
"Besides, that was not the best time to kill him."
Both of the others understood the meaning in his words.
Lin Moyu was the Heaven-and-Earth Enemy and also the tribulation-bearer.
But at that time, the causality on Lin Moyu's body was not yet heavy enough.
Even if Chaotic Wild Dragon killed him, the reward would be limited.
To Chaotic Wild Dragon back then, Lin Moyu was someone who could be killed or not.
So he had merely probed by striking.
If he truly killed Lin Moyu, he would gain a reward.
If he failed, he would not lose much.
He had never expected that even with such caution he would still be discovered.
His many years of hiding had finally been exposed.
Though he had been very angry at the time, it still did not affect him too much.
He had been hiding all those years in order to merge the rules of Heaven-and-Earth in secret, hoping to achieve the Great Dao that way.
It was just that, despite endless years of effort, he had never succeeded and gradually lost patience.
With the great tribulation descending once more, he knew there would eventually be a final battle, so he would be exposed sooner or later.
Chaotic Wild Dragon suddenly turned his gaze on Calamity Great Supreme.
"You hid even deeper than this Honored One and managed to attain the Dao before this round of the great tribulation. Your talent is indeed outstanding."
Dao was unimpressed.
"He was just a bit luckier, nothing more.
"Do not think that breaking through lets you stand on equal footing with us."
Calamity Great Supreme chuckled.
"Senior Wild Dragon is quite right.
"This One has not only talent but also excellent luck.
"Just like last time, when This One deceived Sky-Shrouding Beast Senior and even wounded him."
Chaotic Wild Dragon's eyes narrowed slightly and he showed a hint of surprise.
"You actually injured him?"
Dao laughed coldly.
"I gave you face. With just you, you still want to wound me?
"This Honored One merely acted out a play for you."
"Is that so?"
Calamity Great Supreme's eyes narrowed as he tried to see through Dao's true condition.
Clearly he did not believe Dao's words.
The three sealed off the Shentree Sea and began by trading barbs before any action.
Lin Moyu watched with boredom.
In his view, if you could move your hands, there was no need to move your mouth.
These three were truly long-winded.
They all guarded against one another and each had their own schemes.
They were waiting for something.
Lin Moyu naturally knew what they were waiting for.
They were waiting for him, the tribulation-bearer, to appear.
They had no idea that Lin Moran had already broken through to the Great Supreme realm and reached their level.
In their eyes, once he appeared, everyone would be present.
In that case, Lin Moyu looked into the distance and his lips moved slightly as a wisp of intent was sent out.
The rules far away shifted slightly.
At the same time, Lin Moyu withdrew the concealment of his aura and slowly revealed his figure.
He had always been in the extremely distant void.
In Calamity Great Supreme and the others' eyes, he had been hiding in the dark this whole time.
At this moment, Lin Moyu's eyes glowed red, as if influenced by the Heaven-and-Earth great tribulation, making it hard to control his Dao heart.
This was normal.
As the tribulation-bearer, he would naturally come to seek the Shentree Sea.
After all, in their eyes, the Shentree Sea was the tribulation-bearer's opportunity to attain the Dao.
The tribulation-bearer could not possibly give it up.
Yet in their eyes, the tribulation-bearer was also a chance to attain the Dao.
"He has finally come."
The three laughed softly at the same time, their laughter full of killing intent.
Aside from the Shentree Sea, Lin Moyu was also what they wanted.
In their eyes, Lin Moyu's entire body glowed red, as if endless causality shrouded him.
He was still the Heaven-and-Earth Enemy.
Lin Moyu altered the rules of Heaven-and-Earth and continued to disguise himself as the Heaven-and-Earth Enemy.
The identity of Heaven-and-Earth Enemy combined with that of tribulation-bearer was enough to make these three fight each other to the death over him.
Dao was the first to strike.
The giant eye in the void turned toward him.
Within it was limitless killing power, and space surged like a giant wave, trying to kill Lin Moyu.
This one look was so fierce it could instantly slay a Great Supreme.
Lin Moyu did not fight back, because he knew very well that someone else would act.
"You are not the one who gets to kill him."
Chaotic Wild Dragon roared and let out wave after wave of dragon roars.
The surging void fractured, and Dao's attack was broken.
Chaotic Wild Dragon moved, and he was already in front of Lin Moyu, his massive dragon tail sweeping across.
Dao's giant eye blinked rapidly, and from between layers of space, giant beasts flew out.
These giant beasts were powerful ancient beings that Dao had once slain.
Yet now they seemed alive again, charging out of the void-space.
Hundreds of powerful ancient beings erupted with terrifying power and forced Chaotic Wild Dragon back.
They pursued and tangled him up.
These beings were all extremely strong, no weaker than Great Supremes.
One on one they were not as strong as Chaotic Wild Dragon, but together, even for him, killing them would take some time.
Chaotic Wild Dragon roared in anger.
"Impossible, these beings are already dead."
Dao laughed coldly.
"What you call dead may not be truly dead."
Lin Moyu could see that this was Dao's ability.
Dao's true body was a Sky-Shrouding Beast, adept at manipulating space.
Within the domain of space there was one extremely mysterious ability called Space Mirror-Birth.
It turned space into mirrors that recorded the imprint of living beings, then used the power of space to summon forth those mirrored beings again.
With this Mirror-Birth art, the ancient beings summoned out were, for a short time, hardly different from their original selves.
It was no surprise that Dao possessed such an ability.
Dao laughed.
"You are surprised too early. There are even bigger surprises."
"Resurrection."
The void instantly turned into a layered mirror world, and countless living beings charged out from the mirrors.
For a moment, it was as if all the ancient beings had returned.
Some beings had not only one body, but many.
For example, there were three Everlasting Wild Oxen.
Not only that, there were even two Chaotic Wild Dragons.
The void exploded into an immense brawl, and Chaotic Wild Dragon was surrounded on all sides.
Lin Moyu suddenly understood why, in those years, the final victor had been the Sky-Shrouding Beast.
Rankings were not necessarily accurate.
This sort of ability was terrifying.
Even if Chaotic Wild Dragon had the strongest combat strength, once surrounded, it would be entirely possible for him to be worn to death.
Chaotic Wild Dragon was entangled, and Dao once more turned his gaze toward Lin Moyu.
The giant eye was filled with cold light.
"Heaven and Earth Enemy, tribulation-bearer, Heaven and Earth Great Supreme. Your identities are truly complicated.
You will become the stepping stone for This One to attain the Dao."
Lin Moyu's face remained expressionless, as if Dao's words meant nothing to him.
His eyes still shone red, looking like he was under the influence of the Heaven and Earth great tribulation.
Acting had to be done in full. The real show was only just about to begin, so how could he stop here.
Dao attacked again.
Space once more surged with giant waves.
Suddenly, the waves rolled back, and space returned to the state it had been a few breaths earlier.
It was not that space fell into chaos, but that time in this stretch of void had been rewound.
Calamity Great Supreme had made his move.
He manipulated time, reversing the time of this region of void and stopping Dao.
Dao looked at Calamity Great Supreme, anger rising.
"Back then you played little tricks and fooled This One.
Today This One will cut you down again."
Calamity Great Supreme said,
"You are indeed very strong, but you were truly only lightly injured back then?
All these years have passed; I do not believe your injuries have fully healed."
Back then, Dao had been smashed once by the Calamity Staff.
That single strike had not been light, and Dao's injuries were not light either.
Even after endless years, it was not certain he had fully recovered.
But Dao would never admit it.
He said in a low voice,
"Try it and you will know."
In an instant, countless mirrors appeared in the void.
A great number of ancient beings rushed out from the mirrors, charging at Calamity Great Supreme.
Calamity Great Supreme took out a fingernail-sized Time Essence Stone.
"Time reversal."
Time immediately twisted.
The mirrors were affected, and the time of the imprints within them fell into chaos.
Those ancient imprints from ages past were forcibly erased by Calamity Great Supreme through the Time Essence Stone.
The ancient beings Dao had copied all dissipated.
Calamity Great Supreme said softly,
"Your technique is useless against me."
"You seek death."
With his technique broken, Dao's killing intent surged.
A giant claw smashed apart space and grabbed toward Calamity Great Supreme.
Calamity Great Supreme waved his hand, and time stopped for a brief instant.
The giant claw froze with it.
Calamity Great Supreme took the opportunity to evade, then took out another fingernail-sized Time Essence Stone.
"Break."
With a low shout, all the ancient beings that were besieging Chaotic Wild Dragon vanished.
Chaotic Wild Dragon surged forward with barely concealed killing intent, charging at Dao.
In that moment, his eyes held only Dao.
His technique had been broken again, and Dao was likewise furious, but he no longer had the mind to deal with Calamity Great Supreme.
He had no choice but to focus all his strength on Chaotic Wild Dragon.
"Driving the tiger to devour the wolf. Not a bad method."
Lin Moyu said calmly in his heart.
Whether Chaotic Wild Dragon or Dao, both were beings born from Heaven and Earth after the first great tribulation.
They had wisdom, but they also had a common trait: they were easily provoked.
Especially the beast-type among them even more so.
Chaotic Wild Dragon and the Sky-Shrouding Beast were exactly such.
Their strength was great, but that impulsiveness that came from deep in the soul had never been covered up.
Especially as the two were mortal enemies.
After being besieged, the first thing Chaotic Wild Dragon did upon getting free was to use every possible means to kill Dao.
Calamity Great Supreme clearly knew this as well.
He seemed to be watching the show.
Seeing that he had no intention of acting, Lin Moyu decided to add another bit of fuel to the fire.
Ignoring the battle, he flew toward the Shentree Sea.
He knew that Calamity Great Supreme would not attack him now, because Lin Moyu still had value to him.
As the backlash bearer of those twelve grand formations, this was not yet the time for him to die.
Calamity Great Supreme not only wanted to kill him, but also wanted to kill Dao and Chaotic Wild Dragon, and he would not let the Shentree Sea go either.
Lin Moyu had seen through Calamity Great Supreme's thinking.
Only by doing all that could Calamity Great Supreme be one hundred percent certain of becoming a Supreme.
As expected, Calamity Great Supreme did not attack.
He took out a formation plate.
The formation plate activated and projected countless images.
In the images, the long-unseen Meng Anwen, Bai Yiyuan and the others appeared one after another.
They were in a great battle, fighting with a strange kind of being.
Lin Moyu saw the images and halted mid-step, stopping.
A look of doubt surfaced in his red-tinted eyes.
He was still acting for Calamity Great Supreme to see, but at the same time he was thinking.
In the scene, Meng Anwen was not weak, at least far stronger than he had been in the small world.
Meng Anwen was controlling the Divine Xia Pagoda.
The Divine Xia Pagoda split into clones and formed many fortresses, fighting against a type of unknown being.
Those beings were very strong, smashing fortress after fortress and destroying all the formations Meng Anwen had set up.
Lin Moyu thought of the ancient battlefield remnants he had seen in the great world.
The two were exactly the same.
"So that is how it is."
The matter he had never been able to understand suddenly became clear.
He knew why he had seen those ancient battlefield remnants in the great world back then, yet later could never find their source.
Even now, when he surveyed Heaven and Earth, he still had not found where they originated.
At last he understood the reason for it all.
It all came down to Calamity Great Supreme and the Time Essence Stone.
Back then, Calamity Great Supreme had taken the small world away.
But even for Calamity Great Supreme, taking a small world out of a domain intact and without damage was not easy, because doing so would violate the rules of Heaven and Earth.
Calamity Great Supreme wanted to hide himself, so he would not go all out.
He used the Time Essence Stone.
However, the Time Essence Stone would cause spacetime chaos.
The chaos in spacetime caused a portion of the future events that would occur within Calamity Great Supreme's domain to be projected into the great world.
The ancient battlefield remnants he had seen in the great world were not events that had happened in the great world at all, but things that would happen at some future time point in Calamity Great Supreme's domain.
Lin Moyu's thought stirred, and he directly entered his own Ten-Directions Domain, then into the Origin Continent, drilling into the great world again to see those ancient battlefield remnants.
The rules of Heaven and Earth flowed, and Lin Moyu finally saw clearly that they were indeed projections.
"I was careless."
Lin Moyu sighed inwardly.
Later on he had not gone to look at them again.
If he had, he should have been able to see the clues long ago.
Still, it was not too late now.
He had now confirmed that the small world was within Calamity Great Supreme's domain.
As for whether Meng Anwen and the others were still alive, that was hard to say.
He could only hope they still lived.
Lin Moyu looked at the scenes projected by Calamity Great Supreme and said softly,
"So you are the one who took my teacher away."
Calamity Great Supreme laughed loudly.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, do not blame This Honored One. I did it only to protect them."
Red light glinted in Lin Moyu's eyes.
"Is my teacher still well?"
Calamity Great Supreme said,
"Rest assured, they are all living well.
"When This Honored One has attained the Dao, I will certainly reunite you."
The words carried another meaning, which Lin Moyu naturally understood.
If Calamity Great Supreme wished to attain the Dao, Lin Moyu would almost certainly have to die.
Once he died, Meng Anwen and the others would have no more value.
Reuniting them at that time would mean killing them.
Lin Moyu did not expose the subtext.
He said in a low voice,
"What do you want me to do?"
Calamity Great Supreme said,
"Fellow Daoist Lin is indeed loyal and righteous.
"What you need to do is simple: wait for my command and then control those twelve grand formations."
In his view, Lin Moyu was only a Great Supreme.
At the Great Supreme realm, it was impossible to deal with Dao.
He had to wait for an opportunity and use the formations.
Lin Moyu hesitated for a few breaths, then nodded.
"Fine. Those formations were laid out by you to begin with. This was our plan from the start."
He still put on an appearance of trusting Calamity Great Supreme, all in order to make him lower his guard.