The Sage’s Dao

It didn't take long for Defiance to arrive. Unexpectedly though, upon seeing Yaan facing the Primordial Sage, his eyes flashed and he chose to stand back.

The beings who were watching this battle, struggling to keep up as Yaan and Defiance darted back and forth between star systems, couldn't comprehend why this stubborn man had suddenly given up on attacking. Defiance had maintained the absolute advantage from start to end, and he wasn't one to back down from a fight that he himself had started, so why was he now just staring at Yaan like that, with such a serious expression?

When those beings paid closer attention and focussed on the target of Defiance Sovereign's keen gaze - Yaan's eyes - they instantly understood.

Most did not understand what they were looking at, but they fully understood why Defiance no longer dared to approach.

Anyone that was able to spectate on this battle was at the very least a divinity. This was the bare minimum level required just to watch a battle like this, even after the restrictions throughout the world had been so severely suppressed and damaged. Of course, even most Deities struggled to watch a battle across the star systems; their power was insufficient, even after they were no longer so hindered.

But those who were watching immediately froze upon looking into Yaan's eyes.

Back when Yaan first comprehended the Void, he attracted the full focus of everyone who met his gaze. Even the Heavenly Dao was unable to look away!

Now that Yaan had reached the Divine Step and his dao heart had attained the divine stage, the effect was even more terrifying. The fact that he consciously manifested the power of Void into his gaze this time, also made it that much more extreme.

The Primordial Sage and Defiance Sovereign were two of the strongest beings in this world, but they were also facing Yaan directly, so they were the most severely impacted.

The Void related to the Primordial Sage's dao heart, so she was naturally enraptured and would not look away no matter what. As for Defiance, whilst he could still move and control his thoughts, he had his own reasons for holding back and not interfering with Yaan while he was in this state.

Defiance understood the terror of the Void all too well. He also understood something else…

'Void…the World Demon actually grasped this insight in his birth Origin Era? How ridiculous. Even the 2nd Ascension Origin Gods in the 3rd Origin Era could not comprehend the Void. In theory, if an individual were to truly comprehend the Void, they would immediately cease to exist, their past, present and future would all be exterminated. When you stare into the Void, the Void stares back. For this reason, it should be impossible to find any examples of Void comprehension, because those who comprehend the Void simply cannot exist…except, the monster standing before me is clearly alive and well. How curious, just what is his dao, to allow him to withstand the Void? Could it really be the dao of origin…?'

Thinking this, Defiance glanced at the Primordial Sage. She was clearly in a state of 'enlightenment', but like Yaan, Defiance knew the truth. Unlike Yaan, he had not discovered this recently, he had realised the truth of the Primordial Sage's dao since long ago.

Defiance continued to observe.

The God of Defiance strangely had no interest in contending with the power of Void. This was not a power that Yaan could freely wield, he wasn't afraid that it would be turned on him.

Defiance knew that it wouldn't end well for him if he tried to interfere right now. He didn't think of this as Yaan's power, rather, it was the power of the Void that had somehow manifested within Yaan's gaze.

This wasn't completely wrong, even Yaan didn't think of this comprehension as his own controllable power.

Defiance didn't understand the Void, and he didn't try to.

There were many things that he insisted on defying in this world, but to the God of Defiance, the Void represented something that did not exist, and therefore, there was simply nothing to defy to begin with.

This was just his dao, it was not something that others could hope to understand.

Beyond the Sage and Defiance, the various spectators were affected by Yaan's gaze in different ways.

The ever-present Heavenly Dao stared directly at Yaan, causing the pressure of the world to descend upon him. In the past, this might have caused Yaan to struggle, but the current Heavenly Dao was severely weakened, and Yaan's current state was anything but ordinary.

Nobody knew what the Heavenly Dao thought of this unknown comprehension which even it could not touch. Anyway, they all had their own thoughts on the matter.

The net of destruction trembled every so often, it was clear that part of Shi was still in there, and that remaining part of her was trying to break free, slowly awakening due to the look of Void within Yaan's eyes. Shi was one of the few individuals who had witnessed Yaan's enlightenment back then, she had seen this look in his gaze once before. In fact, it could even be said that seeing the comprehension of Void within Yaan's gaze was the turning point in her life, setting her on the path of obsessively pursuing destruction.

Up above the net of destruction, the Evil God stared with wide eyes.

"No way…is this not his birth Origin Era? How…? How is the World Demon able to see through the Void?! Jut what does he have that I lack?!"

Before long, over a dozen divinities arrived nearby, one after the other. They arrived in this place after seeing that Yaan and Defiance's battle had paused, and after noticing the comprehension of Void within his gaze.

Those Deities who knew nothing of the Void were simply shocked, completely freezing in place after looking into Yaan's eyes. Rainbow Empyrean from the former Divine Court had a similar reaction, but he was at least able to break free from the trance, backing up further in terror and no longer daring to look directly into Yaan's dark eyes.

Love Empyrean stared at Yaan, before sighing gently. She glanced at Defiance, then back at Yaan, before turning her back on them both and leaving. Nobody could say for sure just what she was thinking.

Primal Savage stared at Yaan for a long time, as a smile slowly spread across his face. Fighting spirit burned in his gaze as he licked his lips and thought to himself:

'Haha, I really want to fight him…'

The Primordial Spirit, whilst still a Deity, was a Heavenly Deity and an ancient being, so she was able to retain her sound mind despite looking straight into Yaan's eyes. That said, her current 'sound mind' was not really all that sound…

"This monster, just what is he comprehending now?! Why does such a hateful individual encounter so many opportunities?!" She spoke through gritted teeth, but then had a thought, which she communicated telepathically to the Primordial Asura by her side.

"Sister, should we should attack him now? It might be dangerous in his current state, but this also might be the best chance we get!"

The Primordial Asura didn't even glance at her hate-filled sister. Her eyes were fixated forwards, but not on Yaan. No…she was staring intently at the Primordial Sage.

"Sister, don't attack. I believe…this might be an opportunity for us…all of us…"

The Primordial Spirit looked at her, completely bewildered.

"What do you mean, an opportunity for us?"

"Just wait and see. If I'm right, sister, then your suffering will soon end."

The Primordial Spirit was confused, but she trusted her sister implicitly. At this point in time, the Primordial Asura was the only person she trusted in this world, and she refused to let go of this trust. She had always lived by the love she felt towards her siblings, and even though her brother was dead and the Primordial Sage had seemingly betrayed her, she simply couldn't give up on love itself. If she did such a thing, she knew that her dao heart would completely collapse.

Time flew by, but the region had fallen so still that the passage of time felt both long and short. It was as if the world had been frozen into the scene of Yaan and the Sage facing one another. For those present, they felt like time would not restart until this strange scene reached its end.

Those who dared to come in person arrived quickly, no others had the guts to even enter the Neutral Star System. And so, the Neutral Star System fell deathly still, as the remainder of the world continued to move.

Every now and then, eruptions of destructive aura would explode inwards from the net of destruction, occasionally taking more lives and bringing an end to many celestial bodies.

Ten years passed.

Ten year turned to a hundred years.

A hundred years became a thousand…

When Yaan decided to reveal the Void to the Sage once again, he knew that doing so came with some risks, risks that he couldn't possibly predict. He had fallen into a state of pure emptiness, wherein he had no thought, no feelings, nothing. His sense of time had vanished, all he could see was the infinite yet timeless nothingness of the Void.

The Sage too, was trapped in a never-ending enlightenment, an enlightenment that she felt was constantly bringing her dao to greater heights. She felt this way, but in truth, this enlightenment was completely meaningless - it would never reach any sort of end.

Unless something happened to break apart this deadlock, both Yaan and the Sage would be stuck in this face-off, and the surrounding divinities would be stuck watching them.

Ten thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

To most of divinities present, 10,000 years was not a particularly long period of time when spent in secluded cultivation. However, to spend this long staring into the enlightenment within another's eyes…it was too long.

Perhaps in the middle of the 2nd Origin Era, 10,000 years wouldn't be considered anything significant, but the current world was reaching its end, making every second count. Outside of the Neutral Star System, battles were raging, many Deities had formed their own groups to conquer stars, whilst others were persistent in trying to break through the barrier of destruction.

So far, their efforts were in vain.

When Yaan first revealed his gaze of Void, the 2nd Origin Era was estimated to have 30,000 years remaining. Now, the remaining time had reached to 20,000 years.

By now, even many of the surviving Immortals and Transcendents could feel the approach of the end.

The Heavenly Dao's influence on the world was growing weaker with every passing day. With fewer restrictions binding them, even Deities were now able to display extraordinary powers that they could only dream of in the past.

The world had been thrust into pure chaos. Within the seven star systems trapped inside the net of destruction, the divinities were running amok, bringing death and despair to the surviving immortals and Transcendents. Without the Empyreans keeping them in check, and with the end of times approaching and no hope in sight, the Deities became increasingly bold and reckless.

Even many members of the righteous path had let go of their former morals, no longer caring, or seeing any meaning in upholding righteousness in a world that was unavoidably doomed.

Aside from Love Empyrean, the Empyreans were all fixated on Yaan and the Primordial Sage, unable to extricate themselves. As for Love Empyrean, she had quietly returned to the Four Divine Star System, where she maintained the divine structure of the Paradise Sect, waiting for Yaan's return. Thanks to her efforts, the Four Divine Star System became the only place with some semblance of order throughout the world.

Most divinities no longer cared about maintaining the order in the world. To begin with, the only reason for the Empyreans to care about maintaining their own territory, was as a means of supporting their cultivation. Mortals produced the most fundamental resources, immortals controlled the various fragments of the mortal cultivation world, and from this, they were able to maintain a continual production of the resources they needed to refine things useful to their own cultivation.

But now, none of that was possible. The Evil God had wiped out all mortal life, and the current aura of destruction that pervaded the world made it such that mortal life could simply no longer exist. One needed to be an immortal at the very least just to survive in the present world, but even immortals were struggling to persist now.

Within the net of destruction, the aura of destruction, the sudden eruption of destruction flares, and the chaos caused by the rampaging Deities, caused the population of immortals and Transcendents to fall further with each passing day.

It was also worth noting that the golden spatial crack in the Four Divine Star System was slowly growing larger. This spatial crack had been discovered by many individuals, but nobody seemed to know of its origin.

Down on the Blood Plane's continent, things were't much better. The Blood Plane's sun and moon were also trapped within the net of destruction, causing the temperature across the continent to fall to inhospitable levels. The entire continent had frozen over, becoming an arctic desert, an icy tundra of lifeless stillness. In many places, even the True Immortals had frozen to death. In the regions that were already cold to begin with, even Ancient Immortals couldn't hold on.

The aura of life was gradually fading throughout the world, overthrown by the aura of death and destruction. The only hope for life itself that could be seen in the world, were the various unique beasts that were born from the aura of destruction, reversing destruction and bringing about new creations. These beasts were Rank 7 beings, equivalent to True Immortals in strength. Their intelligence was very varied, from mindless beasts, to beings no less intelligent than humans.

Beasts that were born from the world itself had always existed, but they were rarities, considered unique exceptions born from unique circumstances, no belonging to any particular race. These new beasts were different, they were all clearly born from the aura of destruction and death that filled the world, leading to people calling them the Destruction Beast race.

On this day, over 10,000 years after Yaan manifested the Void comprehension within his gaze, something unexpected shook the world.

From within the net of destruction, from every star system, every sector, every plant and star, from the Blood Plane's sun and moon, from the continent far below…

From every corner of the world, an aura of creation suddenly soared. The dao of creation itself trembled, causing every being with comprehension in this dao to feel a sense of danger within their hearts. This feeling was very similar to the time when Yaan had made use of the Karmic River to destroy the Spirit Plane, right before he destroyed the dao of karma!

For the first time in the last 10,000 years, those divinities surrounding Yaan and the Sage were distracted from the Void within Yaan's eyes. They looked up, only to see a blinding white light gathering so high up in the world, that it even surpassed the height of the Evil God's two Origin Incarnations!

The former Law Empyrean also looked up and narrowed his eyes. As for Injustice by his side, she looked up with a confused expression. Recently, her resistance towards the Injustices happening below her was lessening, but her confusion only grew stronger. Her final awakening was taking longer than Law Empyrean had expected, but he still felt confident that she would fully awaken before the 2nd Origin Era ended.

As suddenly as it appeared, the phenomenon of creation vanished. The streams of light condensed into a woman of transcendent beauty, a woman formed from pure white light. Her appearance couldn't be seen clearly due to the light surrounding her, but that itself was so stunning that the woman within could only be equally beautiful.

The woman stood above the world with her eyes closed for a moment, until finally, she opened her eyes.

BANG!

The sound did not appear in the outside world, but every being with any comprehension into the Heavenly Dao's dao of creation heard a terrifying explosion within the depths of their dao hearts.

When the unknown woman opened her eyes, the dao of creation collapsed!

Law Empyrean's heart trembled as he looked up.

"God of Creation! You were actually still alive? This…you hid within the Heavenly Dao's dao of creation? How sly…!"

Yaan had heard from the Primordial Sage that not all Origin Gods pursued the path of cultivation to comprehend their dao in the 2nd Origin Era. For example, the God of Life, who had long since left this Era, pursued their dao by living through countless mortal Origin Incarnations. It seemed that the God of Creation was another such outsider, taking an unconventional approach to furthering her dao, resulting in this unexpected appearance out of nowhere…

The God of Creation, this stunning woman surrounded by white light that seemed to encompass the entire world, ignored the God of Evil, instead looking down, directing her gaze at Yaan.

"Void…" She murmured, before shaking her head and closing her eyes once again.

An immense aura swept out, causing the world to freeze as her aura rapidly grew stronger. Before long, her aura was so powerful that it caused the entire world to freeze. Under this aura, nobody could even move, yet all were forced to look up at her…as she ascended past the Origin!

The world froze, but Yaan, whom had been frozen for the past 10,000 years in a state of timelessness, suddenly felt like time had once again resumed.

The net of destruction was shaking like never before. When the God of Creation's pristine aura swept out, it wiped away one half of the aura of destruction that pervaded the world, and also destabilised the net of destruction! Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for the net to collapse entirely.

Yaan didn't linger on what was happening. By the time he regained his senses, the God of Creation had already vanished, undergoing her Origin Ascension and leaving this Era behind.

A chance!

For now, Yaan had regained control over his mental faculties, but he could feel that this was unstable and he might lose control again at any moment. He would be able to escape from his dazed state if he simply retracted his comprehension of Void and once again sealed it within the deepest recesses of his Dao Soul, but then, his plan would immediately fail.

He needed to speak with the Sage while looking at her with his eyes filled with the Void.

What he wanted, was to awaken the Primordial Sage…and to weaponise her awakening.

"Sage." Yaan spoke calmly, yet his voice contained a terrifying quality, as if it was soundless and emotionless; completely devoid of all things that a voice should possess.

Immediately, the Primordial Sage was shaken, awakening from her state of 'enlightenment'. Yaan wasn't surprised to see that he had shaken her, after all, that one word spoken by him, with his heart filled with the Void, should have made her realise the truth…

Her heart was not the heart of void.

The Primordial Sage actively pursued the elimination of her own emotions, all in the pursuit of her own perceived dao heart. She believed that she was stepping closer to the Void as she made her own heart void of all feelings.

However, she could immediately sense that compared to the true emotionless tone in Yaan's voice just now, her own emotionlessness was lacking something essential, something that she would never find.

"Primordial Sage, how can you of all people not understand that it is impossible for one's heart to become truly Void? Even the Heartless Deity, right before her death, realised that a heart without emotion, is a heart without desire, and a heart without the desire to live…simply cannot live."

The Primordial Sage's gaze flickered. For the first time in many years, she once again showed an emotion; confusion.

Black cracks appeared across the Primordial Sage's body. Her instinctive reaction was to destroy this body in order to eliminate this emotion before the damage to her Dao Soul spread, but Yaan immediately spoke again to prevent her from doing so.

"Oh Sage, how could you not see through the truth after witnessing Justice Deity undergo her metamorphosis? It is impossible to cultivate a heart of void…but it is just about possible to cultivate a false heart of void. Like Justice Deity, the dao heart that you have always cultivated and believed in is a falsehood, a surface to conceal the truth hidden within…"

Yaan paused, watching the Sage carefully.

He finally saw it, the emotion he had been waiting for. It was very vague, and it vanished almost as soon as it appeared, but the fact that she could feel this emotion meant that she understood in her heart that he was speaking the truth.

For the first time in her life, the Primordial Sage felt afraid.

"Sage, your dao heart is not the heart of void. No matter how desperately you try to run from your heart, you are not emotionless…but you are most definitely a dao seeker. Your dao is not the dao of void; your dao is dao itself. Sage, your dao heart…is the heart of dao."