Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The crack-covered puppet that was imprisoned suddenly started to violently shake. Its chest and belly were ripped open. A giant dragon flew out, struggling briefly before it was sucked into the nebula, becoming a part of it.

At the same time, the silent Zhou Li reared back her head to reveal her pale neck. Her mouth opened wide but no sounds came out. Between her eyebrows the dragon shadow did everything it could to drill into her flesh and blood, but it wasn't able to resist the summoning call of its source origin.

Pa -

The space between her eyebrows ruptured open, as if a blood red plum blossom bloomed on her fair skin. The dragon shadow was curled up into the air, becoming the last part of the nebula.

Zhou Li fell to the ground. She looked into the skies with wide eyes, but all the brilliance there was gone, with only a gray emptiness left.

Rumble rumble -

The nebula spun around, sending out thundering rumble sounds. The sounds dove straight into the soul, causing one's mind to shake and tremble.

Because this nebula was a complete super dragon. It was the total accumulation of its strength!

By absorbing it, one could obtain the complete strength of the great dragon.

The Ancient flicked his sleeves. "Go. Absorb the strength of the great dragon to accelerate the maturation of your Ancient physique. Once you open your eyes again, the world will be different!"

Woosh -

Qin Yu was wrapped up by a strength and flown into the nebula.

The next moment, the slowly spinning nebula began to accelerate. Loud thundering bangs filled the air, as if endless thunder was crashing down from the highest heavens.

Qin Yu closed his eyes. He allowed the strength to pull him into the depths of the nebula.

The Dao Monarch suddenly spoke up. "I finally understand why you have spent hundreds of thousands of years laying out this plan. You not only wanted to avoid that great catastrophe but you also wanted to build the perfect body for yourself!" His eyes landed on the nebula. "This young man should be the vessel you chose. But what I am curious about is how were you able to determine that he would arrive here?

"Through the long span of years, hundreds of thousands of years, even when I was in my peak state it was impossible for me to foretell the future to such an extent. The Ancient race possesses a dreadful blood energy and their mortal bodies are incomparably tyrannical. Their lifespan stretches to eternity and they will not perish even after eons. But in this world, every gain comes with a loss. In terms of perceiving the presence and movement of the Great Dao, it is impossible that you are stronger than me…so, it is certain that someone else informed you of his eventual arrival. I am curious, just who is this person?"

The Ancient was without expression. Within the black hole, he seemed like a monster from the abyss. As the Dao Monarch's voice fell, the Ancient's presence became even eerier.

The several breaths of silence seemed to be an acknowledgement of the Dao Monarch's conclusion. But in the end, the Ancient didn't give an explanation. The Ancient faintly said, "At this time, investigating such matters is meaningless. Today I would like to take advantage of the Dao Monarch's Great Dao. I hope you can fulfill my request."

He raised a hand and punched out a fist.

As this fist fell, the darkness around him seethed like the stormy seas, sweeping out in all directions.

Like the arrival of eternal night, it wanted to pull down everything into the world with it, bringing everything into everlasting silence!

The Dao Monarch's pupils shrank. "No wonder you were able to suppress the puppet with a single punch. When you slayed a Dark Overlord in the past, you must have wrested away his path of darkness."

As he spoke, a massive amount of light erupted from the holy mountain. It wrapped around the holy mountain, making it appear like a blazing sun. Light erupted in the darkness, both sides opposing each other. Thundering sounds came from the void; this was the collision of light and dark as well as the battle between two powerhouses.

The Ancient stepped forward. As he walked through the darkness his posture was heroic and disdainful. Every action and movement he made was filled with infinite momentum.

It was as if in the heavens and the earth, all living beings in existence had to crawl beneath his feet - he was the sovereign king that ruled over them all!

"Although the path of darkness is strong, it is far too great an extreme. It needs to be fused with a mighty opposing power. The Dao Monarch's strength just happens to match perfectly with it.

"If these two Great Daos fuse together, it will enable me to consolidate my dao foundation. My future path of cultivation will be broad and endless and I will no longer be limited by the Ancient race's bloodline.

"So I need your Great Dao no matter what!"

Bang -

The surrounding darkness erupted, wildly smashing into the brilliant holy mountain. At this time, light that pierced through the darkness was melted down and swallowed up. It became a part of the darkness, making it even stronger.

At the summit of the holy mountain, sitting upon the divine throne, the Dao Monarch suddenly coughed. His complexion paled and his eyes darkened.

Just one wrong step and every step after that became wrong too. From the very beginning he had fallen into the Ancient's plot.

With things having reached this stage there was no longer any chance he could escape. But after having consumed a million years to condense the Great Dao he possessed today, was he supposed to just submissively surrender it and be reduced to dust?

Never!

Even if he must die in the end, he would perish together with his Great Dao. He would ensure that all of the Ancient's plans came to nothing.

Resolve flashed in his eyes. The Dao Monarch stood up. His aura ascended as he merged into one whole with the holy mountain. There was no longer any barrier between them.

"Ancient, if you want to seize my Great Dao then prepare for my final resistance!"

He placed a finger between his eyebrows. "Great Dao Prospers Forever…the Great Dao is Forever Lonesome!"

Bang -

An aura terrifying beyond imagination wildly gushed out from the Dao Monarch's body and swept forth like a hurricane. Once this strength truly erupted it would instantly destroy this space, even dragging this entire world into the abyss of death with it.

When an extreme powerhouse fell and destroyed the foundation of their Great Dao, there should be people who died with it. It should make the heavens and earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars all cry out in sorrow!

The Ancient suddenly laughed. "Dao Monarch, you have finally reached this step. If you didn't, how could I seize your Great Dao?"

He spread out his arms. The surrounding darkness wildly gathered in from all directions.

"You should know that you are not the only one with the courage to self-implode their Great Dao. In the past, the Dark Overlord was the same as you." The Ancient said, "And I have been waiting for this moment!"

Darkness arrived from all directions, forming a great curtain that covered the skies and wrapped around the Dao Monarch and the entire holy mountain. But, the curtain of darkness didn't collide with the holy mountain. Rather, it shattered into pieces and continuously contracted. Finally, it turned into a net that fell on the holy mountain, integrating into it and leaving behind a brand mark on the holy mountain's surface.

And the current holy mountain remained bright and radiant, its aura unchanged from before. It was just that every inch was engraved with deep black lines. These lines were similar to the lines that covered the puppet after it had been suppressed with a punch. They released an incomparably potent suppressing power.

But this time, what the Ancient wanted to suppress was the Dao Monarch, or to be more exact, the terrifying energy released by the Dao Monarch detonating his own Great Dao.

To use a simpler analogy, the entire holy mountain could be considered the Dao Monarch's Great Dao. When he had merged into it before, it was whole and indestructible. But the moment he decided to self-destruct, although the surface was still whole, countless cracks had appeared within it.

And the appearance of these cracks gave the Ancient the opportunity to enter. So the curtain of darkness had turned into a net, and using these cracks as a channel, had thrust the darkness into the holy mountain.

"No! You are not an Ancient, you are not of the pure Ancient race!" The Dao Monarch suddenly roared out loud. Atop the divine throne, his aura remained unfathomably deep. But, he was no longer able to summon any of his strength.

At this moment his eyes were fixed onto the Ancient as if he saw something unbelievable. His pupils fiercely shrank and he revealed fear for the first time.

That was right. Before this, even though the Dao Monarch knew he had fallen into the Ancient's trap and would likely not survive past today, while he might have felt unwilling, he never felt fear.

After having cultivated to his level and lived for such a long time that his lifespan seemed nearly infinite, he had already experienced the endless vicissitudes of life, of parting and death. These experiences had forged his heart and mind into a formidable presence.

If he had a chance to keep on living, then he would struggle to survive with all he had. But if it was impossible to escape death in the end, then he would face death and welcome it with open arms.

This was the pride of a peak powerhouse!

But now, the Dao Monarch couldn't restrain the fear rising in his heart. He stared at the Ancient as if he discovered certain horrifying existences in his shadow.

Death was frightening, but there were some things that were 10,000 times more terrifying than death…

"You are…" The Dao Monarch's face whitened. He pointed a finger at the Ancient, about to expose his identity.

But by this time, he no longer had a chance to say anything. When the black brand markings entered the holy mountain, everything was taken over by the Ancient.

"Dao Monarch, you once helped me avoid catastrophe hundreds of thousands of years ago. As repayment for seizing your Great Dao, I will erase your consciousness so you need not feel the pain of having it stripped away from you."

The Ancient stepped forward. One step after another, he rose to the summit of the holy mountain. When he stood in front of the Dao Monarch, he placed a finger between his eyebrows.

Shua -

All of the light in the Dao Monarch's eyes faded away. With this finger, his consciousness had been eliminated.

It had to be known that this was the consciousness of a powerhouse who had fought for a million years and ruled more than one world. To casually erase such a consciousness with a finger, this action inadvertently revealed a certain trait that was truly frightening.