Jiangxi Spirit Mountain.
In the true history, this was where the mountain gate of the Pure Land's [Great Thunderclap Temple] was located, a holy site where ten thousand Buddhas paid their respects. However, in the false history, this was the final territory of the ancient method.
From afar, one could see a towering palace with hexagonal gates, colorful roof tiles, and twenty-four layers of high-reaching halls standing directly above Spirit Mountain. It breathed in spiritual qi and harmonized yin and yang. Yet, upon closer inspection, one would discover that this majestic palace was actually just an exquisite painting scroll.
[Dao-Conquering Tianhun Diagram].
After the great battle of the Dao Lords, all the ancient cultivators of the Three Foundations gathered here. They were constantly plotting to launch a counterattack against the grotto-heaven method, ready to fight the demons to the bitter end.
Right then, at the very top of the palace.
A rugged-looking man, dressed like a savage and carrying an axe, walked down the profound steps. A man in a Daoist robe walked up to meet him.
"Brother!"
As soon as they met, the Daoist-robed man said, "I just divined a hexagram. This newly advanced [Mountain Peak Fire] Perfected Lord might not necessarily be a bad thing for us."
Pan Huang's brow relaxed slightly upon hearing this, and he smiled. "Since it was you, King Xi, who divined it, then I suppose it won't be wrong."
"Sigh, don't mention it."
King Xi let out a long sigh. "I still haven't figured out the great ominous hexagram I divined a while ago. I just don't know what went wrong..."
Among the Great Perfected Lords of the Dharma Body Dao, King Xi was a unique exception. Although he cultivated the dharma body, his true expertise lay in the art of divining heaven's mysteries, making him less skilled in actual combat. Just three months ago, he had suddenly divined a great ominous omen, signifying that the Three Foundations would soon encounter a massive disaster.
However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't divine exactly what this disaster was.
"Alright, you don't need to dwell on it too much."
Seeing King Xi's miserable expression, Pan Huang consoled him, "It's nothing more than soldiers blocking the enemy and earth damming the water. As long as we brothers stand united, there is no hurdle we cannot overcome."
King Xi immediately rolled his eyes at these words.
"Typical Dharma Body Dao."
"No wonder you sat right at the front when Teacher gave lectures back in the day, Brother."
Pan Huang: "...??"
"You brat, you're asking for a beating."
For a moment, it was utter chaos, yet the bickering carried an air of peaceful joy.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the [Dao-Conquering Tianhun Diagram], within a sealed secluded room, a man suddenly opened his eyes.
"...It's been three months."
The man let out a long breath. On his body, dense runes emerged on his originally perfect flesh, spreading across his limbs like jagged cracks.
In the next second, his physical body exploded entirely, transforming into countless streams of dao art light. They merged into a brilliant, magnificent rosy cloud that illuminated the entire room. This phenomenon lasted for a full fifteen minutes before the rosy clouds finally condensed once again, spawning flesh and blood to reconstruct a physical body.
After the reconstruction, there was no longer the slightest abnormality on the man's body.
'Success.'
'Fortunately, at this point in time, I only have the cultivation of the Immortal Bridge stage. With my current strength, it was easy to assimilate him. Otherwise, it would have been a lot more troublesome.'
This person was precisely the first disciple of the Dao Arts Dao Lord, Miao Le!
The great ominous omen that King Xi had calculated three months ago pointed directly at him. Unfortunately, because Miao Le came from the true history, King Xi naturally couldn't make sense of the divination.
In the next second, he slowly opened his palm.
Within his palm, a dreamlike light suddenly emerged. Faintly visible within it were various scenes of the mortal world and immortal sanctuaries, constantly interweaving and shifting.
[Yellow Millet Dream]!
This was a perfect plane comparable to the [Foundation Establishment Realm]. It was his accumulation over 129,600 years, originally intended to be used to attain [Tribulation].
However, plans rarely keep up with changes. He had no way of knowing what was discussed between the Dao Lords; he only knew that one day, the Dao Arts Dao Lord suddenly found him and ordered him to change his plans for attaining [Tribulation]. He was instructed to head to the false history and find a way to integrate the [Yellow Millet Dream] into it, thereby rescuing Sisui.
Miao Le wasn't entirely surprised by this.
His [Yellow Millet Dream] could truly achieve such a feat. This dream plane could not only draw all things into a dream, but also turn those dreaming entities into illusion!
Simply put, it was refining truth into falsehood.
If it really merged into the false history...
Then, as long as everything went smoothly, the false history would be reduced to nothingness, fully replaced by the [Yellow Millet Dream]. If that happened, Sisui's resurrection would be as easy as flipping his hand.
This was a method of slyly substituting the fake for the genuine.
At first, Miao Le had been unwilling to accept this arrangement. After all, by integrating the [Yellow Millet Dream] into the false history, it would be unable to cause any damage to the present world.
Without causing real-world damage, the [Tribulation] wouldn't resonate.
This was effectively severing his Dao path!
However, after the Dao Arts Dao Lord told him that the false history would be reversed this time and returned to true history, Miao Le changed his mind, feeling that it might be feasible after all.
Furthermore—
"Rumble!"
In Miao Le's palm, light swirled within the [Yellow Millet Dream]. Soon, a tall and slender figure with an obscured face and physique emerged.
The Nameless Dao Lord.
His posture was exactly the same as what Ling Xiao had seen. The myriad phenomena of heaven and earth and boundless radiance all converged on his body, yet he didn't reveal the slightest trace of aura.
'Who exactly is he?'
Miao Le pondered internally. It was exactly the conversation with this Nameless Dao Lord, along with the information the mysterious figure had revealed, that finally pushed him to make up his mind to enter the false history.
Yet, now that things had come to this point, he hesitated again. Once he took this step, there would be no turning back. If the [Yellow Millet Dream] merged into the false history, his entire foundation would be bound to it forever. If the false history failed to return to true history, he would essentially be crippled, with no possibility of attaining the Dao in this lifetime.
"...Heh."
Thinking of this, Miao Le suddenly laughed. "Hesitation is also a novel experience. However, it hinders the Dao path. It seems I can't keep this."
Having said that, he closed his eyes. When he opened them a moment later, the indecision from just now had completely vanished, replaced by a cold, firm resolve.
"It's finally my turn to rise to the top."
"It's better that I handle such a major matter."
Even though it was the same voice, the tone was completely different. Such a drastic shift made it seem as if his inner self had been replaced by someone else entirely, sending a chill down one's spine.
In the next second, Miao Le flipped his palm and pressed down.
"Boom!"
In an instant, the dreamlike radiance formed by the [Yellow Millet Dream] was directly forced into the false history, setting off a massive tidal wave in an invisible, deeper layer of reality.
Almost simultaneously, all the Perfected Lords within the false history's Immortal Nexus sensed something. They raised their heads and looked around, but found nothing out of place. They only felt a gust of warm wind blow past, making them comfortably narrow their eyes. Yet, upon closer inspection, they couldn't find the source of the breeze.
To the Perfected Lords, it was merely a warm wind.
However, when it blew upon the Foundation Establishment Perfected Ones, it transformed into intense drowsiness and fatigue. They had to aggressively activate their divine abilities just to barely stay awake.
As for the Qi Refining cultivators and mortals beneath them, they had zero resistance.
Between heaven and earth, only a faint, profound voice echoed in the ears of the slumbering cultivators and mortals, pushing them into an even deeper dream:
"What joy is there in life, and what bitterness in death? Joy and sorrow, both return to dust."
"To all of you, everything is but an illusion, and all efforts are in vain. Today, I open the [Yellow Millet Dream], wishing that all living beings in the world will fall into a long, eternal slumber."