Chaos Dao Sheng Jue

Chapter 1541 7 Murals

“Hmm.” Lu Chen continued walking upwards, saying, “The old Taoist’s plan was ‘rebooting,’ exchanging destruction for rebirth. But these predecessors clearly do not agree. They may have found another path, a more difficult one, but one that at least preserves the existing world.”

Fang Xinyi followed thoughtfully.

Finally, they reached the top of the altar.

This is a circular platform with a diameter of over a thousand feet. The ground is paved with a single piece of black material that is neither gold nor jade, and it is as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the gray mist of the Abyss of Reincarnation above.

In the center of the platform is that huge recess—its shape does indeed perfectly match the yin-yang symbol, but it is dozens of times larger. It is clearly not used to place a key, but to guide some kind of "projection" or "power".

The area around the grooves is covered with dense murals and divine inscriptions.

These murals are relatively well-preserved. Although they have endured countless years, their unique material makes them still clearly discernible. Lu Chen and Fang Xinyi walked to the nearest mural and gazed at it intently.

The first image depicts countless gods and demons gathering around the altar, pouring their power into the central groove. Above the groove, a seed emitting a soft light floats—the nascent form of the Chaos Sapling.

The second image: Deep beneath the altar, a massive black stone is secured by countless chains of laws; that is the World Stone, serving as the "foundation" of the entire world.

The third image shows the Yin-Yang Mirror of the Underworld floating above the groove, its surface projecting two beams of light, one black and one white, harmonizing the raging energy in the world. Beside the mirror, a flame burns—the primordial fire.

Fourth image: Four things glow simultaneously, and a huge, semi-transparent "door" appears above the altar. Behind the door, the faint outline of a complete world can be seen.

"This is..." Fang Xinyi gasped, "An ancient method of restoring the world? They really tried to use these four things to repair the Divine Domain!"

Lu Chen nodded, but his brows furrowed: "But why did it fail?"

The two continued watching.

Fifth image: The door opened, but what surged out was not a new world, but... a black tide. Countless twisted shadows rushed out of the door, attacking the gods and demons surrounding the altar.

The sixth image shows the gods and demons rising up in resistance, but there are too many shadows, and they seem to be able to devour the power of the gods and demons, growing stronger with each battle.

The seventh image: A figure—the very same god-demon who had died embracing Ah Yue in the illusion—rushed to the center of the altar. He did not continue the ritual, but instead… forcibly separated three of the four items, leaving only the Chaos Tree sapling, and then poured all his power into it.

Eighth image: The sapling of the Chaos Tree exploded, transforming into countless points of light that merged into the bodies of the surrounding gods and demons. One by one, those gods and demons turned into skeletons, but their power formed a barrier, temporarily sealing the shadows within the altar's area.

The final image: The altar falls silent, the shadows suppressed and sealed but not vanished. At the edge of the altar, a blurry figure quietly departs—the silhouette of an old Taoist priest.

The mural ends here.

Fang Xinyi remained silent for a long time before finally saying softly, "So that's how it is... When the ritual was halfway through, the evil incarnations seized the opportunity to counterattack. That senior god-demon made a decisive move, sacrificing himself and all his companions, using the power of the Chaos Tree sapling to temporarily seal countless evil incarnations, while that old Taoist priest escaped?"

“It wasn’t about running away.” Lu Chen shook his head and pointed to the corner of the last painting. “Look here.”

Fang Xinyi leaned closer and saw a tiny line of divine script in the direction the old Taoist had gone. She studied it for a moment and read it aloud: "'Carrying the fire, awaiting the coming'... He took the primordial fire with him?"

"Yes! Although the ritual failed, he took away the most crucial spark, waiting for the next person capable of restarting the ritual. However, his choice was 'restart,' while the choices of these predecessors were 'seal.'"

The two fell silent.

So, the current situation is this: the ancient ritual failed, and the embodiment of evil is temporarily sealed deep within the altar. The old Taoist priest hopes I can complete the reboot and completely eradicate the embodiment of evil from this world.

But the price was the destruction of the existing world. What these predecessors paid with their lives was a possible restoration, not a restart.

“But…” Fang Xinyi looked at the skeletons around her, “The seal has been sealed for countless years, how much longer can it last?”

As if in response to her question, the altar suddenly began to shake violently!

It wasn't the previous resonance, but a real, collapsing tremor! Countless tiny cracks appeared in the ground, the black material shattered, revealing the churning...shadows beneath.

The shadows writhed like living things, trying to emerge from the cracks. They had no fixed shape, resembling black smoke or viscous liquid, exuding a nauseating, putrid stench.

"The seal has loosened!" Upon seeing this, Lu Chen's expression changed drastically, and he immediately pulled Fang Xinyi back.

But it was too late.

From the crack, a shadow suddenly darted out, rushing straight at Fang Xinyi! Its speed was comparable to a full-force attack from a Dao Integration Realm cultivator!

"Watch out!" Lu Chen stepped in front of her, unleashing his full power of chaos, which condensed into a gray shield in front of him.

The shadow slammed into the shield, emitting a piercing shriek. It had no physical form, but its impact was extremely powerful. Lu Chen was jolted back three steps, and countless cracks appeared on the shield.

Even more terrifying, a part of the shadow actually "stuck" to the shield, and began to corrode and devour the power of chaos!

"This thing can devour laws!" Lu Chen's pupils contracted. Without hesitation, he dispelled his shield and simultaneously unleashed his greatsword "Godslayer," unleashing the ninth move of the Primordial Nine Blades, "Return to Origin!"

In an instant, a blade of light, condensed to its fullest extent, slashed out, splitting the shadow in two.

The shadow let out a painful howl, and the two halves of the body struggled and rolled on the ground, but soon merged back together, only smaller in size.

"Ordinary attacks have limited effectiveness!" Fang Xinyi realized this as well, and quickly activated the Azure Wood Longevity Technique, transforming silvery-white life force into a rain of light. When the shadows came into contact with the life force, it was like boiling oil meeting water, making a hissing sound, emitting black smoke, and their movements became noticeably slower.

"The power of life is effective!" Fang Xinyi's eyes lit up upon seeing this.

“But it’s only slow,” Lu Chen said in a deep voice. “There are just too many of them.”

Looking around, the ground of the altar platform was riddled with cracks, and shadows were emerging in ever greater numbers. They were like wild beasts that had been starving for countless years, greedily pouncing on the only two living creatures on the platform.

Lu Chen and Fang Xinyi stood back to back, one continuously unleashing the Primordial Nine Blades, while the other used the power of life force to suppress the attack, barely managing to hold onto a small area.

But the shadows were endless, and as time went on, they seemed to adapt to the two's attack methods, becoming increasingly difficult to deal with...