bioinnovel Chapter 363 The Heavenly Dao Repair Technique
Chapter 363 The Heavenly Dao Repair Technique
The human warrior looked down at his bare legs.
The two bare legs formed by the Heavenly Dao Repairing Technique shattered during the brief moment of silence, turning into white light that scattered into the gaps between the city bricks.
Now only his upper thighs were draped over the edge of the barricade, his trouser legs hanging loosely.
He patted the empty trouser leg twice, then looked up.
"I traded my real legs for three of the Ice Dragon's teeth. I traded my bare legs for a gash in the Giant Eye. Now that my bare legs are gone, I can still crawl on my hands and fight."
Qingfeng stood beside him. The bare hand on his left arm had already shattered when the white light returned to the Heavenly Dao Repair Technique.
He gripped the broken sword with his only remaining right hand, the blade resting on the crenellation.
"I may have lost my bare hand, but I still have my real hand. I can wield a sword with my real hand too."
Gongsun Bao pulled the broken sword out of the city bricks.
"The soldiers of the prehistoric world have no missing arms or legs, but they lack the courage to die standing up."
Ten thousand soldiers simultaneously pulled their weapons from the floor tiles. White light was drawn out from the cracks in the tiles and flowed back onto Laozi's whisk.
The whisk shone for a moment, the light climbing up the whisk's strands, reaching the back of Laozi's hand, slipping into his sleeve, and disappearing into his chest.
The Celestial Venerable of Primordial Beginning trembled, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. The blood dripped onto the whisk and flowed down the whisk's strands.
He raised his whisk and touched the talisman array on Yang Jian's forehead.
"I've checked the third floor for you."
Yang Jian's third eye opened for the third time.
This time, the golden light emitted by the Heavenly Eye was no longer golden.
The golden light contained the last white light of the Heavenly Dao Repair Technique. The two laws twisted together, tearing apart the outermost edge of the runes in the rune array.
Laozi's runes burned away one after another, and the resulting fragments of laws tore open the flesh around Yang Jian's eye sockets.
He didn't blink, his eyes fixed intently on the seven fragments of axe intent that had been sealed for 30,000 years inside the Black Star.
"The first layer of nested laws, penetrate. The second layer, penetrate. The third layer, Laozi withstood it. The fragments of the axe intent can be drawn out."
"Guide," Su Fan said, uttering only one word.
Yang Jian's right pupil suddenly contracted.
The last wisp of white light from the Heavenly Dao Repair Technique enveloped the golden cone of the Heavenly Eye and penetrated deep into the causal core cracks of the seven old extraterrestrial gods, enveloping the seven pieces of Pangu's axe intent that had been sealed for 30,000 years, and then suddenly pulled them outward.
Seven fragments of axe intent were simultaneously pulled out of the crack.
The fragments of the axe intent pierced through the outer shell of the black star, through the twenty-one resurrected bodies of ancient extraterrestrial gods, through the congested layers of dark laws, and through the golden patterns on the cage walls.
Following the aura of Pangu's axe, all seven fragments shot towards Su Fan.
Su Fan took the Pangu Axe off his shoulder. The blade faced outwards, and the axe face was directed towards the direction from which the seven fragments had come.
The first fragment struck the axe head, did not bounce off, and went straight into the axe blade.
The white light on the axe blade exploded, forcing Su Fan to retreat three steps. With each step he took, a brick shattered, and after three steps, all that remained beneath his feet was a deep pit where he was embedded in the bricks and stones.
When the second fragment struck, Pangu's axe began to tremble.
The axe handle vibrated violently in his hand, causing the old wound on his hand to reopen, and golden blood flowed down his wrist.
Seven fragments simultaneously slammed into the axe. The white light of the Pangu Axe shattered the dark laws on the top half of the cage, and the fragments were blasted into the sky, directly piercing through the aftershocks of the great calamity pressing down above.
After all seven fragments of the axe intent returned to their places, the weight of the Pangu Axe suddenly changed. It became lighter, much lighter than before, but the sharpness of the axe blade was still sharp enough to cut through any layer of the law structure in the cage.
The man in the black robe saw the seven fragments return to their places, and his pure black eyes suddenly contracted.
His right hand swiftly sliced through the void, and the last three rows of causal runes burned simultaneously.
"Exploding."
The remaining twenty-six extraterrestrial gods simultaneously detonated their causal cores.
The shockwave from the explosion of the dark law layer blasted open the cage from the inside, creating a hole thousands of feet in diameter in the chaotic gray mist.
One by one, the foundation bricks of the South Heavenly Gate flew off, shattering into dust in the chaos. The feet of ten thousand soldiers left the ground at the same time.
Su Fan was thrown over by the shockwave, his back hitting the edge of the wall, breaking two of his ribs.
He glanced down at his chest; the broken ribs had pushed two bulges out of his skin, and a metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
He swallowed the blood, stood up, straightened up, and held the Pangu Axe horizontally in front of him. Golden patterns flowed from his palm into the axe handle, and the axe blade lit up again.
"The cage is broken, but we're still alive." He turned to look at Yang Jian.
After being thrown over by the shockwave, Yang Jian's back pressed tightly against the pillar of the city tower.
His third eye was half-closed, blood streaming from his eye sockets down his cheeks and dripping onto his breastplate. He didn't wipe it away, and his voice remained steady.
"The coordinates are still there. The golden patterns of the Path of All Beings still lock the twenty-six causal cores."
"Then let's fight." Su Fan took a step forward.
The man in black robes stood in the chaotic gray mist. After the cage shattered, he retreated into the depths of chaos. The layers of laws on his body had been mostly eroded by the golden patterns, and the edges of his robes began to burn.
But behind him stood twenty-six comrades. The old extraterrestrial god in the Black Star had broken free from the aftermath of the great calamity, and his dark green eyes were arranged in three rows, all locked on the South Heavenly Gate.
"I only have one last trick up my sleeve regarding the Dao of Cause and Effect." He spoke each word with a hoarse voice, reverberating through the chaos. "This trick has not been used against any major realm for thirty thousand years."
Su Fan's answer was only two words: "Come on."
The man in black robes raised his right hand. Twenty-six extraterrestrial gods simultaneously extended their right hands, their palms closing together in the chaotic gray mist.
The causal nuclei began to resonate, and the resonant frequency collided with the outer shell of the black star, causing all three black stars to melt from the inside at the same time.
The melted black causal liquid mixed with the chaotic gray mist, and the gray mist began to deteriorate.
The deterioration was extremely rapid, changing from gray to black, and from black to dark red. The entire bottom of the chaos turned dark red.
Yang Jian's third eye trembled violently.
"The causal fluid is devouring chaos itself."
"What happens after you swallow it?" Su Fan asked.
"Chaos is transformed into causality. This space is no longer chaos. It will become a territory beyond the realm. In this territory beyond the realm, the primordial Heavenly Dao and the Dao of all living beings—all become ineffective."
Yang Jian paused for a moment, "This is his last card, turning the chaos right under our feet into their home ground."
Nezha slammed his spear into the ground, the tip of which shattered a fragment of the remaining cage wall.
How long will the conversion take?
"Thirty breaths."
"Thirty breaths is enough for me to stab him five hundred times." Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels exploded in flames.
"It's no use," Yang Jian's voice remained calm.
"As chaos transforms into extraterritorial territory, the density of the law of cause and effect will continue to increase. The further you thrust your spear forward, the greater the resistance you will encounter."
"After twenty breaths, you won't even be able to lift the tip of your spear. After thirty breaths, all the laws of the Primordial World will become ineffective, and the Southern Heavenly Gate will fall directly into the outer territory."
The human warrior used the hilt of his sword to support himself and crawled forward half a zhang.
He had no legs. His trouser legs dragged loosely on the city bricks.
After climbing to the edge of the crenellation, he used the blade of his broken knife to wed the brick seam at the crenellation, forcibly propping up his upper body, and looked at the dark red-gray mist that was deteriorating in the depths of chaos.
"I have a question. Is the Way of All Beings considered a primordial law?"
Yang Jian turned his head to look at him.
"Calculate."
"So that kid just said the primordial laws are all ineffective, and the Dao of All Living Beings is also ineffective?"
"right."
"After it fails, does the will still remain?"
Yang Jian fell silent.
Lao Jun answered for Yang Jian.
The voice of the Primordial Celestial Venerable came down from the ridge, very soft, but clear enough for everyone on and off the city wall to hear clearly.
"Will exists. Will is not a law, but the source of laws. The Way of All Beings has failed, but your will remains. The Way of Heaven has failed, but the Primordial World remains. As long as the Primordial World exists, you exist."
The human warrior nodded.
"That's fine then."
He pulled the broken sword from the crevice, pointed the blade at the dark red chaos ahead, and muttered something.
"I don't care whether the laws are invalid or not. I'll just keep cutting."
Qingfeng stood up straight behind him.
His right hand was split open at the base of his thumb. He tore off a strip of cloth from his robe and wrapped it around the opening, wrapping it three times. He then bit the last knot tightly with his teeth, picked up the broken sword, and took a step forward.
"Well said. Cutting one is enough to break even, cutting two is a profit."
Gongsun Bao stood up, supporting himself with his hands on the broken sword, and uttered each word in a hoarse voice.
"Thirty thousand years ago, Pangu could shatter seven of your comrades. Thirty thousand years later, the primordial world has a new generation. This generation is not as tall as Pangu, but there are more of them."
After he finished speaking, ten thousand people took a step forward at the same time.
The city bricks trembled, but the white light that wasn't from the Heavenly Dao Repair Technique spread out; this time, only the sound of footsteps spread.
The heavy, orderly footsteps echoed as thousands of people stepped onto the ground.
The footsteps struck the edge of the decaying chaotic gray mist, causing the mist to swirl and slow its decay by half a breath.
The man in black heard the footsteps.
He stood in the dark red-gray mist, his pure black eyes sweeping across the city wall of Nantianmen, and over the outlines of the 10,050 defeated soldiers on the wall.
"Your laws will expire in thirty breaths. Instead of running, you keep moving forward."
"Why are you running?" Su Fan stood on the frontmost edge of the battlement.
The Pangu Axe had returned to the broken bone on the shoulder, where the bleeding had stopped. The protrusion of the broken ribs throbbed against the skin. "Once you've run away from the Primordial World, it's yours."
"It's the same even if you don't run."
The man in black robes waved his right hand, and twenty-six extraterrestrial gods simultaneously plunged their palms into the corrupting chaotic gray mist.
The causal liquid flowed down their arms and into the depths of the gray fog. The gray fog began to deteriorate at an accelerated rate.
The dark red color spread upwards from the bottom of chaos, over the layer of corpses, over the corpse of the Kun, over the remains of the pillar of chaos, and up to the very bottom of the foundation of the South Heavenly Gate.
Yang Jian announced the remaining time: "Twenty breaths."
Nezha's spear tip was pressed against the outermost edge of the crenellation. He did not rush out.
"Twenty breaths. What can that do?"
"Enough for me to chop with my axe," Su Fan replied, taking the Pangu Axe off his shoulder.
After the seven fragments returned to their positions, the white light on the axe blade was no longer simply white.
The white light contained the azure power of creation, the primordial chaos swept from the layer of corpses, and the golden patterns of will poured in by ten thousand soldiers as they plunged into the city bricks.
He glanced down at the axe blade, then looked up at the dark red-gray mist ahead.
"Laojun. The Heavenly Dao's art of mending deficiencies has been used up. How much longer can the Heavenly Dao itself sustain itself?"
The Primordial Celestial Venerable sat cross-legged on his spine, and all 108 runes were burned away, leaving only a wisp of clear light on his whisk.
He drew an arc in the void with his whisk, the arc representing the remaining amount of all the Heavenly Dao rules from the beginning of time to the present moment.
Amidst a dark red backdrop, the gold thread, as fine as a hair, was still pulsating.
"The Heavenly Dao has been leaking away, and it's been leaking for so long without stopping; as for how much longer it can hold on—"
Laozi placed his whisk on his lap and said softly, "I don't know, but since it's not broken, you can still fight."
Su Fan raised the Pangu Axe above his head. He stood on the highest crenellation of the South Heavenly Gate, with the breathing of 10,050 people behind him and the chaotic expanse in front of him undergoing decay.
"Then there's no need to calculate it."
Pangu's axe cleaved out.
A flawless white axe beam flew out from the axe blade, cleaving into the dark red-gray mist, striking the very center of the twenty-six extraterrestrial gods, and slashing at the boundary between chaos and the extraterrestrial territory.
The point of impact exploded with sparks of law, pale and silent, one after another, forming a curtain of light that illuminated the face of every extraterrestrial god in the gray mist.
The last protective barrier of law in the black-robed man's hand was cleaved open by the axe's edge, causing a slight tremor in his shoulders and a half-step backward slip of his right foot.
At the same instant he retreated, the axe blade's edge poured in from the crack, its aftershocks sweeping across the bodies of the three extraterrestrial gods behind him.
The three bodies of law were cleanly split in two where the axe blade passed, the cut surfaces as smooth as if they had been cut off. The scattered fragments of law flew outwards and exploded into three balls of cold flames upon hitting the dark red-gray mist.
Yang Jian reported softly, "Twenty-three left. Ten breaths remaining."
The transformation of chaos continued. However, the rate of transformation slowed considerably after the axe blade struck.
The dark red-gray mist, after spreading over the layer of corpses, failed to advance even half a step further.
All the additional causal liquid was thinned layer by layer by the golden patterns of sentient beings remaining in the gray mist. The golden patterns and causal liquid crushed each other, and muffled sounds kept popping out on the contact surface.
Su Fan sheathed the Pangu Axe. The white light on the axe blade dimmed by a third, but the azure power of creation and the golden will remained. He looked at the black-robed figure who had taken a half-step back in the dark red-gray mist.
"You just said that all living beings in the primordial world are ants. Now you've taken a step back."
The man in the black robe stopped.
The half-foot that had retreated landed on the boundary line between chaos and the outer territories, and it did not retract.
His pure black eyes were fixed on Su Fan, on the Pangu Axe, and on the white power of creation, the golden will, and the blue chaotic origin swirling together on the axe blade.
"Just half a step."
"Even half a step is a retreat." Su Fan raised the axe again. "If you can retreat half a step, you can retreat all the way."
After the cage broke, Sun Wukong squatted on the roof ridge at the highest point of the South Heavenly Gate.
The golden cudgel rested on his knee, and the monkey's eyes reflected the axe beam that Su Fan had unleashed.
He took the stick off his knees, planted it on the roof ridge, and stood up.
The gray mist on the golden armor had not yet dissipated, and the aftershocks of the great calamity still caused white arcs of electricity to dance on his fur.
"I, Old Sun, just rolled around in the Great Tribulation and was almost welded to the ground by the laws of the outer realms. Now that I've recovered, I want to ask you something."
Su Fan turned to look at him.
"Go ahead and ask."
"You used seven shards to chop this one. Now that you've used up all the shards, what will you use next time you chop?"
Su Fan looked down at the Pangu Axe in his hand.
"Next time, I'll chop with my life."
Sun Wukong grinned.
He pulled the golden cudgel from the roof ridge, touched the ground with the tip of the cudgel, and somersaulted, landing next to Su Fan.
"Then chop me up. Leave me a club before I die."
Yang Jian kept his third eye closed and his voice very low. "Three breaths remaining."
Su Fan did not hesitate.
Within three breaths, he stepped over the rampart and plunged directly into the dark red-gray mist.
Pangu's axe cleaved again, the second axe blade continuing to penetrate deeper into the crack created by the first cleavage, striking the dividing line in front of the black-robed man.
The dividing line cracked. A straight slit split open in the middle, with chaos on both sides and the remaining space in the middle where the primordial rules had not yet been completely swallowed up.
The man in black robes extended his hands for the first time. He inserted both hands into the sides of the crack simultaneously, and the causal liquid spraying from his palms spread along the edge of the crack, holding it firmly in place as it was about to close.
Su Fan stood at one end of the crack, while the man in black robes stood at the other. The two stood face to face, separated by a three-foot-wide crack.
"If this crack is closed, the primordial world will be completely isolated."
The man in the black robe spoke in a very low voice.
"I will hold it together."
"You're not holding it up," Su Fan stared at the black-robed man's face, which was as white as paper. "You're holding yourself up."
The man in black robes remained silent for two breaths.
What do you mean?
"Your causal path has only one core left. You're holding up the rift to prevent the primordial world from being isolated, not because you want to protect it."
"The reason is that once the rift closes, your core will be sealed outside the outer territory and you will never be able to enter again. Then you, as the leader, will just be an empty shell."
The man in black robes did not answer. He continued pouring the causal liquid into the edge of the crack, but the pouring speed slowed down. It slowed down by a full beat.
Yang Jian's voice came from the city wall, piercing through the dark red mist and landing in Su Fan's ears.
"Time remaining: zero. Chaos transformation complete. Extraterritorial territory formed. Primordial laws officially rendered ineffective. But the cracks remain. The will of all living beings has not dissipated."
Su Fan's hand holding the Pangu Axe trembled slightly. The laws had failed.
The space beneath their feet was no longer the primordial wilderness, but a territory beyond the realm. On this territory, the Heavenly Dao was silent, the golden patterns of the Dao of All Beings dimmed, and all rules shifted to the opponent's advantageous position.
But the will of all sentient beings remains.
Willpower is not a law. Willpower cannot penetrate foreign territories, but it can hold back everyone who is still standing, preventing them from retreating.
The will of 10,050 people was simultaneously poured into the Pangu Axe in Su Fan's hand. The golden patterns on the axe blade lit up again.
One, two, fifteen, one hundred. Golden patterns stretched across the axe's surface, unleashing the white light, the blue light, and the indomitable spirit of ten thousand soldiers into a unified whole.
Su Fan stood atop the ruins of the malfunctioning laws, slashing straight at the solitary causal core within the crack with an axe-like beam formed from pure will.
The man in black robes loosened the edge of the crack, pulled his hands back, and took the axe blow with his palms.
The moment the axe blade touched the causal liquid in his palm, golden light burst forth from between his fingers, illuminating the entire crack and the dark red mist.
The soldiers on the city wall took a step forward simultaneously, their footsteps sounding as synchronized as if they were one person.
Qingfeng aimed his broken sword at the crack.
The human warriors raised their broken swords as well. Gongsun Bao, supporting his broken body, thrust the broken sword into the last intact brick of the city wall.
Deep within the crimson mist, on the boundary of the territory formed by the melting of those black stars, a new row of shadows quietly emerged.
Not twenty-three. More than twenty-three. More than thirty-three. Countless.
Yang Jian opened his Heavenly Eye for the last time. He looked for three breaths, and the liquid flowing from his eyes was indistinguishable between blood and residual liquid of the laws.
"After the outer territories were formed, the true main force of the Path of Cause and Effect is moving outward from the depths of the territories. Those twelve were the gatekeepers left on this border thirty thousand years ago. Now the gate is open, and the people inside are coming out."
Su Fan retrieved the Pangu Axe from the crack. The golden light on the axe blade was still there, as was his will. The breaths of ten thousand soldiers still echoed in his ears.
He hoisted the axe onto his shoulder.
"Then leave no one alive. Kill as many as they come."
Nezha held the spear shaft horizontally in front of him. Since the Wind and Fire Wheels couldn't break through the suppression of the laws of the outer territory, he simply extinguished the flames and used only the tip of the spear to touch the ground.
The tip of the gun grazed the ground, leaving a trail of sparks that quickly dissipated into the dark red mist.
Nezha grinned and cursed, then looked up at the depths of the territory from which layers of figures emerged.
"It's frustrating. All this fighting has been a clash of laws, and not a drop of blood has been shed."
"It'll be ready soon." Yang Jian closed his third eye. He leaned against a pillar, pressing his right hand against the still-smoking vertical mark on his forehead.
"The density of laws within the outer territory is saturated, causing all ranged law attacks to weaken. They must get close to us."
"Close combat." The human warrior propped himself up on the rampart, his broken sword held horizontally in front of him. "My sword is for close combat."
The dark red-gray fog churned violently.
One after another, the extraterrestrial gods tore through the fog and began to charge towards the ruins of the South Heavenly Gate. Their heavy footsteps pressed against the broken city bricks and into the chests of every defending soldier.
Su Fan stood at the forefront of the crack, waiting patiently. After a moment, he raised the Pangu Axe and struck the city bricks in front of him heavily with the back of the axe.
The city bricks shattered. Amidst the flying debris, ten thousand soldiers roared in unison.
The shout had no laws to uphold it, no resonance with the Heavenly Dao, it was just the pure volume of 10,050 voices, which forcefully shook a gap in the dark fog of the outer territory.
Through the gap, the first batch of extraterrestrial gods who rushed up revealed their clear outlines.