There Are Only Obstacles

"North Ghu City…after so long, I actually came back to this place. The city itself is almost exactly the same as before, but…the people have all changed."

Yaan stared down at North Ghu City and slowly shook his head. The city, which was situated within the centre of a large lake, was just as he remembered it. The Ghu Clan was still in charge, and within the city, demonic and righteous cultivators alike lived in 'peace'. There were many death match arenas contributing to the city's economy though, so it wasn't really all that peaceful.

When Yaan first entered this city back when he was just a 2-Star Realm demon, he had to enter like everyone else, by waiting for the boat to take him across the lake. This was the Ghu Clan's rule; it was the only way in and out of the city. Even Rank 4 powerhouses had to abide by this rule. As for Rank 5 elites, they naturally didn't need to lower themselves by waiting for a boat, they would be greeted by the city lord directly upon their arrival.

Now, Yaan could ignore all of these restrictions without anyone even knowing. He stood above the city expressionlessly and stared into the Ghu Clan's central palace, where the new North Ghu City Lord resided. The new city lord was a woman, placed in charge 200 years ago after the last city lord died.

This was the nature of life; the young replaced the old, this was true even in the cultivation world. Lifespan for cultivators was much longer compared to mortals, but regardless, after hundreds of years passed by, the older generation of powerhouses would all die and the youth would take their places as the new elite.

Only by reaching the Immortal Step could one's longevity be extended into the thousands of years, and it was only after reaching the Dao Immortal Realm that 'true eternal life' could be obtained. However, even then, Dao Immortals were not truly eternal, because eventually, given enough time, they would inevitably encounter a situation that would result an end to their journey and the loss of their life.

This was the nature of life. In fact, even divinities were not exempt from this fact of life. Divinities could still be threatened by other divinities…the war described by the Spirit Plane Lord one million years ago which resulted in the demise of 27 divinities was proof enough of this fact. However, even the strongest of divinities still lived their lives trying to escape from the inevitable scythe of death…

The Primordial Sage had already told him that in 30,000 years, this world, the 2nd Origin Era, would reach its end. The four planes would be destroyed, and anyone who failed to transcend the origin and become a God, mortals, immortals and divinities alike, would all lose their lives to this inescapable calamity.

30,000 years still felt like a long time to Yaan, so he didn't really feel any pressure though. He was more concerned about the most immediate trials that he would need to overcome if he wanted to continue surviving, and protecting his home, along with those who were dear to him.

There were millions of residents in North Ghu City, but the number of Ghu Clansmen didn't even reach one hundred. The Ghu Clan had always been a clan with very few numbers of valued members who were entrusted with responsibilities, but every single one of these Ghu Clansmen were capable individuals, having gone through countless trials and tribulations just in order to survive to adulthood. Any Ghu Clansmen who had permission to leave their clan's key homelands, of which there were six throughout the province, was highly valued by the clan.

"Even after hundreds of years, the Ghu Clan still only has six key homelands throughout the province. Well, I already wiped out North Ghu Mountain, so now there are five. Aside from these, there are the four cities which they open to the public and use to generate revenue. In all, so long as I visit these ten places and kill every Ghu Clansman within, then the majority of the Ghu Clan will be wiped out. As for those who manage to escape…"

Yaan's eyes shone with a ruthless light. He, the Dao Clone of Qi, was by nature peace-loving, but that didn't make him a pushover. He knew that in order to create the peace for his homeland that he desired, he needed to build his paradise atop a mountain of the Ghu Clan's corpses. There was no room for mercy if he wanted to attain this goal, driving him to kill, despite not really wanting to do so.

"Once the Heavenly Path Sect takes control over the province, we can issue an extremely large bounty on the heads of every surviving Ghu Clansman. In this demonic province, the cultivators will no doubt jump at the chance to hunt them down, once the Ghu Clan's might has been completely disbanded. Unless they are already outside of the Ghu Province, then no Ghu Clansman will escape."

After deciding on his course of action, Yaan raised the wooden sword above his head. Pointing the tip of the sword up into the sky, a sea of blood manifested in an illusion within the clouds. Instantly, the entire North Ghu City was enveloped by a bloody suppressive aura, and a crimson light weighed down on the people's souls, making them unable to do anything other than stare up into the sky in shock and horror.

The Ghu Clansmen in particular were terrified, because in the sky, within the sea of blood, they could see the corpses of every Ghu Clansman within the city - within this bloody sky, they could see their own corpses, as if reflecting the inescapable fate that was about to strike them down!

The strength of the clansmen was irrelevant. Those at the Qi Temple or Qi Palace Realm were no different from the Late Origin Soul Realm North Ghu City Lord – all were completely suppressed under the strength of Yaan's might, to the extent that they couldn't even think about escaping.

Before striking down, Yaan opened his mouth to speak, causing the world to tremble in every direction. His voice spread out across the entire North Ghu City, entering the ears of every single person within the city and causing their minds to tremble chaotically.

"From today forth, the Ghu Clan will be removed from this world. The Heavenly Path Sect is the new overlord of this province, and this province will be renamed to the Heavenly Path Province." It was as if his words fused with the crimson sea in the sky up above, causing his voice to echo through the minds of the millions of shocked cultivators down below.

As soon as Yaan finished speaking, he struck down with the sword. Every single Ghu Clansman felt a life and death crisis overwhelm their hearts, yet they could only watch as the illusion of the wooden sword approached…

It was a bizarre scene that was difficult to describe, but the wooden sword somehow cut through every Ghu Clansman, whilst leaving everyone else unharmed.

BANG!

Unlike before, Yaan did not leave the corpses undamaged. As the sword cut through the bodies of the Ghu Clansmen, their bodies exploded into a mist of blood, leaving only their heads and their shocked expressions behind. The heads did not immediately drop to the ground, but floated in place ominously for some time…

Yaan retracted the sword, then casually waved a single time with his other hand. Instantly, every spatial storage treasure of the 72 slaughtered Ghu Clansmen within the city shot up towards Yaan. In a practised motion, he emptied these spatial treasures and poured the mountains of contents into a superior red spatial ring which Elia had given him before he left. He waved his hand once again, sending those now-emptied spatial treasures flying towards Heavenly Path Mountain, hundreds of miles away with 72 beams of untraceable light. Although the distance was far, Yaan had imbued his Spirit Qi with his comprehension over the dao of air to ensure that these valuable treasures would definitely reach the mountain before long.

"Back then, the old North Ghu City Lord never paid me back properly for our exchange…he is now dead, so I will consider this my compensation." Yaan spoke to himself softly.

He turned back down towards the city and casually flicked his wrist. Ripples of dao spread out with his movement, causing the earth below the dozens of heads to tremble.

Whoosh, Chi!

Beneath each head, a spiked pillar of earth shot up, penetrating through the bloody wound at the neck, piercing through the mouths, and out through the tops of the heads. Each pillar then continued to rise into the sky with a head adorning its peak, until they were positioned exactly 100 feet above ground level.

Without another word, Yaan turned to leave. He left behind these pillars as proof of the Ghu Clan's annihilation, but also as a warning to others, reminding them that they could not stand against him.

As Yaan departed he blinked and realised something.

"Did I…just casually create two Qi refining spells based upon the air dao and earth dao, without even thinking about it? Haha…my Qi refining talent combined with my intuitive dao comprehension is truly monstrous. Hmm, if it's like this, I could easily assist the Heavenly Path Sect massively by creating a library of all sorts of spells…"

Yaan casually mused to himself as he made his way to the next location – the Central Ghu Territory.

The Central Ghu Territory was also the largest of the Ghu Clan's territories, and their main headquarters. It was their most valued land, the place homing the largest number of clansmen, and the place where Yaan would surely find the strongest combat force under the Ghu Clan.

That is, unless they had already fled. However, he found this unlikely. Despite him killing three Nirvana Life Realm powerhouses with ease and proving his might beyond any doubt, Yaan didn't believe that the Ghu Clan elites would actually choose to run. At least, they definitely wouldn't simply abandon their province.

Why?

It was simple – the Ghu Clan had ruled this province with overwhelming might for too long. The entire clan had grown too accustomed to being the ones doing the oppressing, they simply didn't know the meaning of 'running away from others'. Even though they were a bunch of self-serving demons, they were not cowardly, not in the least. Every single one of these clansmen had the will to fight with their life on the line, so they wouldn't give up on their most valuable lands so easily.

And besides, even if they did flee, it would do them no good. No Foundation Step cultivator could escape from the current Yaan, because he could just use Reveal Truth to track the lingering remnants of their aura. He had revealed his strength to the Ghu Clan less than an hour earlier, meaning that even if they really had fled, they would have left behind some traces of aura that he would be able to track down.

When Yaan arrived at the Central Ghu Territory, it immediately became clear to him that they had not chosen to flee. No, rather than fleeing, they had in fact doubled down on their efforts to kill him, by hastily sending their powerhouses towards this place, which they anticipated that Yaan would visit, in order to lay down a trap for him!

For some time, Yaan stood in the air outside of the Central Ghu Territory. It was his first time visiting this territory, and although he knew that with one more step, he would walk into their trap, he felt relaxed enough that he was able to stop and examine the Ghu Clan's most valuable lands whilst ignoring the various hidden self-destructing formations, treasures, and cultivators, in every direction around him.

The Gu Clan possessed six homelands. These homelands were the main living quarters for the elites of the clan, and each possessed shocking unorthodox cultivation environments.

That was only the central elite region of each territory though. The majority of the Ghu Clansmen were actually mortal children and children who had managed to reach Rank 1, either via orthodox or unorthodox methods - meaning demonic transformations.

The first tribulation that the Ghu Clan children were forced to endure, was a battle melee. The children were raised in a village by their mothers, but they were raised with the Ghu Clan's laws and principles in mind. From a very young age, they all knew that when they reached nine years old…the adults would all leave them, never to be seen again. Then, the 1,000 children in their village would be forced to fight one another to the death, until their numbers had been whittled down from 1,000 to 100.

They were given time to prepare for this, provided not only with orthodox Qi refining techniques, spells and resources, but also the Ghoul Transformation Technique, the Vampiric Transformation Technique, and the Fiend Transformation Technique.

They were prepared for their first trial by blood. They were prepared for the fact that they would need to kill their friends, and maybe even their siblings…but the fact that 100 of them would survive filled them with hope. As such, it was only natural that the children would form their own tight knit groups, planning to overcome this cruel trial together…

But upon surviving this initial melee, they were healed back to their prime condition by a clan elder, and the immediately forced to fight in yet another gruelling battle, until their numbers were reduced from 100 to 10. This was a complete surprise to the children, after all, they were deliberately not prepared for this. They were purposefully allowed to form close relationships with one another, because the second surprise battle was different from the first - they were split up into groups of ten, and told that they must fight until only one remained.

And these groups of ten…were based upon the closest relationships that had been observed between the children by the overseeing elder as they grew up.

Right, the Ghu Clan children were put on the spot, forced to fight and kill those whom they had sworn to love and protect, no matter what. This was the Ghu Clan's cruelty - this was how they raised true demons.

And this was only the beginning. Of the 1 in 100 who survived through these two battles at the age of nine, only 1 in 10 managed to make it to the age of 20. Indeed, in the Ghu Clan, the survival rate between childhood and adulthood, was actually just 1 in 1,000.

Only the strong and the ruthless could survive, everyone else became a stepping stone for the rise of a demonic clan powerhouse.

Yaan examined all of this from above as he stared down at the notorious Central Ghu Territory.

"Truly worth of being called the Ghu Clan's headquarters. There are actually exactly 3,285 mortal villages, each holding 1,000 children…this means that every single day, 1,000 Ghu Clan children are born, replacing those who underwent their tempering of blood the previous day. Every single day, this barbaric ritual is repeated…"

Yaan shook his head and sighed.

"As expected, this clan has no place in my home. I'm sorry, children, but honestly…killing you is a form of mercy. Your lives will never be anything pleasant, having been born into and raised by a clan such as this. The world of cultivation is nothing pleasant, but the deranged Ghu Clan managed to find a way to make it even worse…"

With another sigh, Yaan took a step forwards, into the trap which he could clearly see through.

However, the trap that the Ghu Clan 'allowed' him to see, was merely their bait. They had setup a 'trap' by placing dozens of Origin Soul Realm and a single Nirvana Life Realm cultivator within the concealment regions of their territorial protection formation, all strengthened and supported by the formation itself, making it look like this was their concealed trap. And indeed, a normal Nirvana Realm powerhouse might struggle to notice this, even if they felt like something was amiss…

But this was not the true trap. They had already realised that Yaan had a method which allowed him to see through the truth of certain things, so they had 'concealed' this 'trap', knowing that he would actually see through it. They hoped this would lead him to believe that this was the full extent of their trap.

It was not; all of this was just bait. There was a real trap beyond this false trap, a trap hidden so deeply and so maliciously, that Yaan actually felt a hint of admiration towards Ghu Lin for going this far.

As soon as Yaan took a step forwards, the 'concealed' cultivators who had been seemingly laying in wait…suddenly vanished.

In the next instant, after Yaan stepped past the confines of this territory's formation, the entire world became illuminated by a vast golden light. The formation which he had so easily entered, now solidified behind him, preventing him from taking a single step back.

However, Yaan remained composed. The Ghu Clan had still underestimated his Reveal Truth Dao Spell; he had already seen through the true nature of this trap, which actually turned the entire Central Ghu Territory into a giant, sealed, self-destructing implosion.

When the formation lit up with golden light, retreat became impossible…for most. Yaan would be able to move back, but he didn't do so. He didn't need to retreat. He simply stood still and watched expressionlessly as the region of hundreds of miles lit up with a blinding golden light, and countless rare treasures, beast cores, and even every stunned remaining clansman, mortal and cultivator alike, was broken down into golden fragments and absorbed into the self-destruction formation.

Yaan felt an immense repulsive force pushing him away from the formation wall, towards the centre of the territory. At the same time, the energy which had been devoured from the now-dead clansmen and the disintegrated treasures down below, had accumulated as a giant golden orb, like a miniature star, within the centre of the formation.

Yaan didn't resist at all, allowing himself to be pushed and pulled towards the centre of the formation. He glanced around briefly, casting an indifferent gaze towards the ruthless looking clansmen at Rank 4, Rank 5 and Rank 6, who had been teleported to safety outside of the formation. When they saw that he had been dragged into the golden orb, they all showed cold smiles.

Even Ghu Lin, who stood in the air above the formation and stared down at Yaan with a plain expression, relaxed after seeing him enter the orb.

"In the end, you are still unable to break free from my schemes…Yaan." Ghu Lin spoke plainly.

However, in the next moment, his heart trembled. He showed nothing on his face, but his heart skipped several beats and a terrifying premonition that something was amiss overcame him.

'Wait, he didn't even attempt to resist the formation's might! And from start to finish, his expression remained unchanged…could it be…? No, there's no way, even an immortal would be injured and unable to escape after entering the formation's star core!'

The young looking man narrowed his eyes and stared down at Yaan intently. However, the premonition in his heart only grew stronger, along with the formation's growing gold light…

"Oh Ghu Lin…is this really how you greet an old friend?"

When Yaan's words somehow echoed out from within the formation and entered everyone's ears, Ghu Lin reeled back in shock. The other elders also looked stunned, unable to comprehend how this was happening.

"Impossible, how can his voice reach us when he has been devoured into the formation's star?!"

"This…could it be that he anticipated this? Did he see through our true trap?"

"There's no possible way! I don't know what method he used to send his voice out from the formation, but now that he's inside of the core, his death is assured! He might be strong, but he cannot escape the Central Ghu Star Annihilation Formation's ultimate self-destructive attack!"

…

As he heard the chatter from outside, Yaan smiled and shook his head. He had allowed himself to be pulled into this miniature star because he found this formation interesting, and wanted to experience its effect for himself. However, he had one other reason…

Yaan's eyes shone with indiscernible light as he activated Reveal Truth. He rapidly comprehended the intricacies of this formation, and although his mind could not really understand it, he understood its function in his heart.

He had a second reason for entering the formation's core…

Only after entering the core of the formation, would he be able to interfere with its functionality. It really was an incredible formation, and now that it had started, he could not stop it, nor could he escape - but he didn't want to anyway.

After finally analysing the part of the formation that he needed, Yaan raised his hand and casually prodded the centre of the miniature star. His finger became charred due to the burning golden light, but he ignored this minor injury, and pressed into one of the formation's core runes…

"Return." Yaan stated simply.

"What?!"

"H-How?!"

"I- I can't resist! I- AH! I'm in the formation, help…me…"

The Ghu Clansman who had wanted to ask a grand elder for help found the words get stuck in his mouth, when he found that like himself, his teacher had also been sucked back into the formation by some unknown force!

Only Ghu Lin alone remained outside of the formation, because he had never been inside of it to begin with. However, he was anything but calm right now, and without hesitation…he turned around and fled.

But it would do him no good.

After Yaan interfered with the formation at the crucial moment, causing it to reverse the teleportation of those clansmen who had previously laid in wait within the formation to bait him in, dragging them back into the formation, the destructive power of the formation reached its climax.

There was no deafening sound, only a blindingly bright light. Ghu Lin couldn't help but pause and stare back at the light, which was rapidly condensing inwards, as his heart raced and his expression became grim. He realised that since it had reached this point, his escape would be impossible if Yaan, by some miracle, somehow managed to survive…all of his fellow clansmen had been killed thanks to Yaan's ploy, and now…he could only hope that the formation would be enough to kill Yaan along with their sacrifices.

The golden light became increasingly blinding as it condensed inwards, until the formation walls reached the miniature star, causing it to rapidly collapse into a single burning point.

The light emitted from this silent implosion was so blinding that Ghu Lin could only shield his eyes and turn away. It was only a few seconds later that he quickly opened his eyes and turned back towards the formation.

He froze.

His gaze never even reached the formation centre, nor did he see the absolute devastation, the hundreds of miles wide crater left behind by the complete annihilation of the Central Ghu Territory.

He didn't see these things, because Yaan was standing right before him, as calm and composed - and uninjured - as ever.

"I should thank you, Ghu Lin." Yaan spoke plainly, staring into the dark eyes of the black-robed young man without a trace of emotion. His gaze contained no hatred, no malice…only cold indifference.

Yaan had never liked killing, and that was especially true for the Dao Clone of Qi. He didn't like killing, and he didn't really consider anyone in this world to be his enemy…but plenty of people decided to become his obstacles, standing in the way of his path.

And towards those obstacles, Yaan had no mercy.

Ghu Lin stared at Yaan with a dry mouth. Everything had transpired too quickly, to the extent that he didn't even know what to say. He had grown accustomed to suppressing people with his vast power and schemes, but he now realised that compared to the demon before him…all of that was merely a joke.

"Thanks to you, I was able to comprehend the dao of formations on an intuitive level for the first time in my life. My dao of fire and dao of light comprehensions have also grown substantially. So, I thank you, Ghu Lin. Thank you…and goodbye."

With a cold, emotionless gaze, Yaan raised the wooden sword above his head and slashed down a single time. It was a seemingly ordinary strike, and yet, Ghu Lin couldn't even think about putting up a trace of resistance.

His body was completely destroyed, and even the vapours of his blood were burned to ash. Yaan reached out and took his spatial ring, then without even looking back, he took a single step, leaving this place and heading towards the next target.

Back then, he had hated Ghu Lin to the core for all that he had done to him. But, the current Yaan was no longer the same child as the past, not just because he was a Dao Clone, but because he had simply experienced far too much in his life.

As Yaan departed, he muttered to himself, reflecting on the changes in his heart that had transpired over the years.

"In the end, hatred is a pointless thing. People have schemed against me, but I have also schemed against others. People have wronged me, but I have wronged far more people. People will try to kill me…but perhaps I deserve this, given the number of lives that I have taken. I have committed so many sins and caused so much suffering, that I have lost the right to hate others, and my heart has become numb to such fruitless emotions anyway. There is no point in clinging to petty grievances…now, I only want to protect my home."

As Yaan said this, he suddenly paused and stopped flying. He entered a daze for a while, because it just hit him…

Didn't he hate the Primordial Devil? His hatred towards the Primordial Devil was engraved into his very Dao Soul. In fact, his Dao Soul was actually born from his hatred towards that devil…

"Why do I hate the Primordial Devil…?" Yaan muttered.

Well, he knew the logical reason - he was the Primordial Devil's heart demon, his hatred towards that devil was engraved into his very heart, it was the essence of his being!

Or at least, this was true for the complete Yaan…but for him, the Dao Clone of Qi…he was not the part of Yaan that hated the Primordial Devil, was he?

"Hatred is pointless, there is no such thing as a life-long enemy in this world. The Primordial Devil…is not my enemy. He is merely an obstacle in my way…"

As the Dao Clone of Qi came to this realisation, the sleeping Yaan in the Spirit Palace also experienced this revelation. Nobody noticed it, but for the briefest of moments, a faint hint of a smile flashed across the slumbering Yaan's face.