Chapter 873: The Battle of the Legendaries
The Great Dao of the World was both profound and mysterious. It represented the gateway to all wonders.
This Great Dao could be understood as the fundamental law that shaped everything in existence. It served as the foundation of all cultivation and divine abilities. Every spell, technique, or martial art was rooted in a branch of this Great Dao.
Its essence was scattered across the heavens and the earth, present in all things. Those who could perceive this essence gained divine power, and those who could touch it stepped onto the path of the Dao. Anyone who earned the recognition of a Great Dao branching from this source became a master of the Heavenly Origin—an eighth-realm Eminent One, a rare existence in the world.
The next realm up was even more difficult to attain. This was the Profound Realm, an even more elusive stage of cultivation. To reach it, the cultivator had to become one with the Great Dao itself.
With how the Great Dao was defined, it meant that those who had attained the ninth realm would be undying. Yet, in terms of the characteristics of origin life essence, even ninth-realm beings had a finite lifespan.
Hallowed Li had lived so long ago that no records of him remained. Hallowed Yang had not lived beyond a thousand years. Humans were blessed with divine wisdom but cursed with short lifespans, likely a balance imposed by the Heavenly Law.
Because no one could remain in the mortal world forever, even those who reached the ninth realm had to keep seeking a higher path. Perhaps that was why, in their twilight years, eighth and ninth-realm cultivators all chose to journey to the Divine Ruins.
The Demon God’s life essence had managed to survive for three thousand years thanks to the nature of its true form. As a spirit beast, the Heaven-Devouring Bug naturally possessed a long lifespan.
Even after its corporeal body perished and its soul shattered, its life essence remained. Its life essence then slowly eroded over thousands of years inside the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, yet it still had not been extinguished.
That was likely why the demons had always sought to bring back their god and why the Divine Ruins Monastery had not taken action. As long as its life essence still existed, the Demon God could not be considered truly dead.
The ancient ninth-realm beings of the past had long since lost even their life essence. Even if they could be revived by reconstructing their Great Dao, the nature of their existence would no longer be the same.