Han Yi was naturally unaware of what was happening within the mysterious palace.
After leaving the Heaven's Mandate Continent and entering the Chaos, he headed toward the Dao Domain Channel. Along the way, he didn't rush but instead searched for anomalies in the Chaos, particularly focusing on the eruptions of the Dao Tomb Ripples.
Although still in the first stage of the Dao Tomb Ripples, nearly ten thousand years had passed—roughly one-tenth of the expected duration.
With no urgent matters requiring his immediate return to the Primordial World, Han Yi seized the opportunity to investigate the evolution of the Dao Tomb Ripples. This had also been the motivation behind his recent travels on the Heaven's Mandate Continent.
Whenever he encountered Dao Tomb fluctuations in the Chaos, he would stop to investigate and seek ways to counter them. At this stage, the fluctuations were not yet violent. With his strength, Han Yi could suppress most of the ripples.
His understanding of the Dao Tomb gradually deepened.
The Dao Tomb, he realized, represented the Great Dao's descent into irreversible and spreading destruction.
The destructive power within the Dao Tomb Ripples, though minimal, was of a fundamental and extraordinarily potent nature, surpassing any destructive force Han Yi had ever witnessed.
A single ripple from the Dao Tomb required him to mobilize Chaos Power over a range of several kilometers, enveloping it completely to achieve total annihilation.
And just a few kilometers of Chaos Power were sufficient to destroy an ordinary Cave Heaven.
In other words, a single ripple from the Dao Tomb possessed the terrifying power to obliterate an entire Cave Heaven.
Moreover, this mere ripple was just a ripple from the Dao Tomb. If even these ripples were so devastating, then the full power of the Dao Tomb itself could collapse a Small World with a single strike.
This was the true reason why the numerous Great Powers dominating the Dao Domains within the Chaos were so deeply alarmed. Even the Dao God Sect, supreme among them all, had preemptively summoned countless Heavenly Venerables to gather on the Dao God Continent to deduce methods to counter the Dao Tomb.
Beyond the ordinary Dao Tomb Ripples, Han Yi also discovered a Tomb Explosion.
A Tomb Explosion occurs when the Dao Tomb Ripples are suppressed to their absolute limit, resulting in a cataclysmic explosion akin to the primordial creation of a Great World. Unlike the creation of a Great World, however, a Tomb Explosion contains only destruction, no rebirth.
The spread of Tomb Explosions is currently suppressed by the Chaos. As the explosion expands, it reaches a critical state under this suppression.
The periphery of a Tomb Explosion is difficult for even ordinary Dao Realm cultivators to withstand, while even Heavenly Venerables avoid lingering near its core.
Han Yi had encountered Tomb Explosions multiple times. When he accompanied Nangong Hao to the Ancestor God Star, they encountered one halfway through their journey—a primitive, early-stage Tomb Explosion.
Later, during his journey to the Dao God Continent aboard the Demon Witch Mountain, he encountered another.
Years later, Han Yi encountered a Tomb Explosion once more in the Eastern Realm of the Heaven's Mandate Dao Domain. Unlike previous encounters, this time he deliberately sought out the phenomenon to observe it.
From a distance, he observed a region of disorder within the Chaos Void Space—a place permeated by boundless destruction. Even from afar, the destructive energy filled him with awe.
This unique region of destruction was a Tomb Explosion.
With a solemn expression, Han Yi gradually approached the edge of the Tomb Explosion. He slowly inserted half of a wooden-colored disciplinary ruler into it. The wooden glow on the ruler began to annihilate at the most subtle level.
This annihilation was silent, slow, yet relentless.
The slow pace was because he was currently at the edge of the Dao Grave. If he ventured into its center, this high-rank Dao Artifact—the wooden disciplinary ruler—would be instantly destroyed, reduced to nothingness and completely vanish.
At the edge, Han Yi retrieved the ruler. After a moment of hesitation, he extended his palm, covered in golden divine power, and slowly plunged it into the Dao Grave.
Instantly, he sensed an unprecedented force acting upon his divine power, causing it to melt away like ice and snow under sunlight.
With a thought, the divine power in his palm began to transform, gradually coalescing into simple forms of Divine Arts.
Immeasurable Divine Armor, Divine Sealing Art, Divine Wrath Power, Spirit God Concealment, God-Suppressing Power, Divine Tribulation Power...
He activated each of the nine Divine Arts from the Divine Canon one by one, but except for Divine Tribulation Power, the others continued to dissolve at a rapid pace.
Han Yi's heart stirred again as he channeled all the divine power in his palm into Divine Tribulation Power.
This so-called Divine Tribulation Power was the concentrated divine power of his Divine Art, the Divine Thunder Tribulation.
Ever since acquiring the Six Forms of the Gluttonous Sacrifice, Han Yi had relied most heavily on the Immeasurable Divine Armor from the Divine Canon. Apart from that, he occasionally used the Divine Sealing Art, but rarely employed any of the other divine arts.
Han Yi's gaze sharpened as he focused on his palm. Golden divine power enveloped it, its form shimmering with strands of tribulation light.
Above the flickering tribulation light flowed the aura of the Dao Grave.
Enveloped by this aura, the tribulation light continued to shimmer, seemingly unaffected.
But Han Yi shook his head. Only he knew that the Divine Thunder Tribulation power, fueled by divine power, was gradually diminishing within the Dao Grave, though the rate of decline was so slow as to be nearly imperceptible.
He withdrew his hand, dissipating the divine power, and pondered inwardly.
"The Divine Thunder Tribulation transforms divine power into divine tribulation, bringing down divine punishment."
"In the Divine Tribulation, destructive power precedes regenerative power."
"Judging by this test, the destructive power of the Dao Grave far surpasses the regenerative power of the Divine Tribulation."
"Moreover, this is merely the periphery of the Dao Grave."
Han Yi felt a chill in his heart.
After a moment's consideration, he didn't retreat. Instead, he channeled divine power into a Divine Tribulation, enveloping himself in its radiance, and stepped into the Dao Grave.
Though his pace wasn't swift, the Dao Grave spanned only about five hundred kilometers. Within mere breaths, he reached its midpoint, now close to the core.
At this point, Han Yi halted, refraining from advancing further. Every moment, he was draining divine power at an unsustainable rate, pushing his speed to its absolute limit. Any deeper, and he wouldn't be able to endure.
Shrouded in Divine Light, he scrutinized the core of the Dao Grave.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, his heart jolting. Within the core—a tiny area of only about 100 square meters—he glimpsed a fleeting black shadow, darting through the darkness.
A sudden wave of terrifying crisis erupted within him, as if someone had gripped his heart, ready to crush it at any moment. The palpitations brought back the fear he had felt when facing the Heavenly Venerable.
He abruptly closed his eyes, severing the connection to the Causality he had glimpsed. Simultaneously, he explosively retreated at superluminal speed, escaping the Dao Tomb Ripples for millions of li before gradually slowing to a stop.
Even after stopping, the gravity on his face remained unchanged.
"A Chaos Tomb Beast?"
"It must be."
"These grave beasts are born within the Dao Grave, feeding on worlds. Wherever they pass, worlds are destroyed, everything returns to dust."
"Legend has it that even the weakest grave beasts possess the strength of a Heavenly Venerable."
As this thought crossed his mind, a sudden doubt flashed through his mind. "Wait, according to the information from the Dao God Sect, the second stage of the Dao Tomb Ripples, which begins in ninety thousand years, is when the grave beasts are supposed to emerge."
"Was that creature I saw not actually a grave beast?"
"Or could something have caused the grave beasts to be born prematurely?"
"Even though it was just a fleeting glimpse, and the black shadow within the Dao Grave core wasn't large, it was most likely a true grave beast. However, this particular one was newly born, still growing, and far from maturity."
Han Yi glanced at the distant location of the Dao Grave, then retracted his gaze, studied the Star Chart's range, and headed eastward.
This time, he didn't explore further but used the Traceless Dao Technique to travel, not at full speed, but comparable to an ordinary cultivator in the Dao Harmonization Realm.
Having seen the Dao Grave and discovered a suspected black shadow that might be the Grave Beast, he lost interest in further travels. Instead, he wanted to return quickly to Volant Heng, return to the Primordial, and focus on cultivation.
Moreover, he suddenly had an ominous premonition that the First-Tier of the Dao Tomb Ripples, which should have lasted a hundred thousand years, might have been shortened for some reason.
Because of this ominous premonition, a sense of urgency arose within him.
Half a year later, he crossed the boundary channel between two Dao Domains again and returned to the Vast Heng Dao Domain.
As soon as he entered the Vast Heng Dao Domain, he reconnected with his numerous Myriad Nether Incarnations within the domain, and countless pieces of information flowed in.
He first checked the information about the Primordial World and found no major changes.
The Celestial Venerable Suizhu had still not returned, and the various Heavenly Venerables of the Great Primordial Continent remained in seclusion or cultivating, with none making any overt moves.
Overall, the Primordial World had entered a relatively stable period.
At Han Yi's request, the Second High Priest of Purgatory Island had gathered all the Dao Realm cultivators on the island, keeping them within its vicinity and preventing them from venturing out. This greatly relieved the surrounding Dao Realm Heavenly Venerables and their factions.
Meanwhile, both the Five Factions Han Yi established in the Eastern Sovereign Territory and the over twenty Dao Realm cultivators he converted in the Wisdom Realm had refrained from any major actions for decades. Instead, they focused solely on cultivation, quietly providing proficiency to Han Yi.
Outside the Dao Domain Channel, Han Yi's gaze fell upon the panel on his retinal display:
Myriad Transformations Profound Truth Dao Scripture (Dao Fruit Chapter: 92/100)
In the next moment, the progress bar for the Dao Fruit Chapter began to rise: 93/100, 94/100...
Finally, it settled at 98/100.
Myriad Transformations Profound Truth Dao Scripture (Dao Fruit Chapter: 98/100)
During the years since he left the Vast Heng Dao Domain, over a hundred Dao Realm cultivators had advanced his Dao Fruit Chapter by six percentage points.
Don't underestimate this six-point increase. After all, this was the Dao Fruit Chapter, and progress near perfection was notoriously slow. Such rapid advancement was remarkable.
A sudden realization struck Han Yi, and he glanced at another section of the panel:
Life Seed: 97,648 units
This approximately hundred-thousand Life Seed was obtained by Han Yi during his travels in the Earth Realm of the Fate Dao Palace, when he stumbled upon a mysterious valley.
Before this, he had already used his entire stock of four hundred and thirty thousand Life Seed for cultivating the Dao Scripture, which had advanced his Dao Realm progress to 92/100.
He had a strong premonition that the External Dao might be within reach.
This premonition was so intense that he didn't return directly to Volant Heng. Instead, he summoned the Dao Boat and had Li San emerge from the Divine Aperture World to pilot it using the Escape Technique. While Li San steered the boat, Han Yi remained inside, seizing the opportunity presented by the premonition. Using the Life Seed as fuel, he began his breakthrough.
He chose not to perform this breakthrough within Li San's Dao Realm because, while a Dao Realm isolates the inner from the outer, the Dao Boat can connect to the Chaos. Although breaking through to the External Dao primarily involves harmonizing the Dao Fruit with the inner Dao Realm, being connected to the Chaos allows the External Dao to immediately sense the Chaos Power, enabling faster mastery of it.
Inside the Dao Boat, Han Yi didn't immediately absorb the Life Seed. Instead, he first absorbed the Proficiency provided by the Myriad Nether Incarnation in the Vast Heng Dao Domain over the past dozen years. The six percent progress in the Dao Fruit Chapter transformed into countless insights, flowing into his heart like water and silently becoming part of his underlying foundation.
His foundation continued to strengthen, steadily building higher.
Three years later, he finally emerged from this profound contemplation.
This time, the collapse within him...
As his cultivation realm advanced, the Life Seeds could be absorbed instantly. However, the insights they brought were no longer digested immediately; they required time to settle.
Thirty years ago, in Imperial Water Dao City, it took him over twenty years to fully digest the insights from four hundred and thirty thousand Life Seeds, transforming them into cultivation.
This recent enhancement was modest, the insights far less overwhelming than those from the four hundred and thirty thousand Life Seeds. Consequently, it took only three years to fully digest.
Then.
Instead of emerging from seclusion, Han Yi focused his thoughts and channeled all the Life Seeds on the panel into the Dao Fruit Chapter. Nearly a hundred thousand Life Seeds rapidly diminished, reaching zero within the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
Immediately after,
mystical insights about the Dao Fruit surged forth, their essence naturally merging with his being. The final layer of the Mi Luo Profound Truth Dao Tower, which had remained, visibly dissolved at a pace visible to the naked eye, merging completely with the Dao Realm.
Three years later, the manifested Dao Tower in the Dao Realm completely vanished, signifying that Han Yi's Dao Fruit had fully merged with the Dao Realm.
Although the Dao Fruit had disappeared, the concentration of Dao resonance within the Dao Realm had reached its peak.
Within the Dao Realm, the Spirit Beasts Han Yi had cultivated took advantage of this opportunity to comprehend the Spirit Path, rapidly advancing their cultivation realms.
In a pavilion within the Dao Realm, a gray-robed phantom shadow materialized above the Great Abyss Divine Blade.
"To have reached the peak of the Dao Fruit and entered the critical state for breakthrough so swiftly..."
"The secrets within Han Yi are truly astonishing."
"If he advances to the External Dao and combines it with the Divine Race's High-Tier Immeasurable Realm cultivation, could his strength truly ascend to the Heavenly Venerable level?"
"I truly look forward to it," Taiyuan murmured. His phantom shadow descended back into the Divine Blade and vanished.
In the outside world, within the Dao Boat, Han Yi's panel showed the Dao Fruit Chapter progress at 100/100.
Yet he didn't immediately emerge from seclusion, instead continuing to immerse himself in cultivation.
At that moment, across the Primordial World and the Wisdom Realm, numerous Myriad Nether Incarnations were simultaneously cultivating the Dao Fruit Chapter. Even Li San, who was piloting the Dao Boat, had set it on auto-pilot and diverted his focus to cultivation.
Within the Chaos...