Chapter 894: Comprehending Life Dao
"Don't worry, there will be opportunities for you. Once the great battle breaks out, there will be selections. At that time, I'll not try to compete with you."
"Hehe, then I'm assured! Unfortunately, this is not our world. Forcing in will only harm our natural characteristics. Otherwise, we can just charge in and plunder all the resources. With our strength, who could stop us?"
"No need to hurry. After all these years, True Spirit World is gradually weakening. We're not far from success."
"Hope that day can come a bit sooner..."
The voices weakened until there was none left.
Nearby, a star was completely overrun by the blood flood, and some regions were totally permeated by the flood. It was hard to imagine that the blood, which had come from so far away, still had such might.
Kacha!
On the surface of the star, a protrusion suddenly appeared and a human figure climbed from within.
"Death road is indeed the death road. Even the Dragon King died—all three thousand years of cultivation base completely turned into blood water. These otherwordlings are excessively powerful. Unless the titled monarchs that left their mark on the Emperor Scar Stelle are revived, there is no hope of passing."
"Eh? The Blood water has no life force? How is that possible?"
A blood sphere floated above the human figure's palm, completely devoid of vitality. How was it blood? It was more like red water.
As the King with the highest cultivation base in True Spirit World, Dragon King had naturally reached the Blood Drop Rebirth stage. Although, when the difference between the strengths was too high, Blood Drop Rebirth could be rendered useless, since one's opponent could directly extinguish all the life force in blood. But, this shouldn't have been the case. This blood should have at least some vitality remaining.
While frowning, the human figure sank into contemplation.
...
On the boundless ocean were innumerable pirates. The smaller crews had a few hundred people with Astral Reaching Realm cultivation base, whereas the bigger crews had ten thousand or even more pirates, and they had at least one Sea of Soul Realm Master overseeing the crew. They moved unfettered through the boundless ocean, turning countless islands into graveyards.
Confronting the pirates, Ye Chen had only word in mind—death.
He lost count of how many pirates he'd killed. Perhaps it was in the hundreds of thousands, or it had already surpassed a million. Life was cruel, and at this moment, he was the embodiment of this cruelty targeted at the pirates.
"Death is constant, like a pool of stagnant water, whereas life is fickle. It could blossom like fireworks or explode like cannon fire. It could germinate from a small plant but could also be mercilessly stepped on. Life is an unknown; nobody knows where it would lead you. Since it's so fickle, there is a need to restrict myself to passive appreciation. I should take the initiative to get close to its source."
If a Life and Death King were here, they would certainly be astonished by Ye Chen's understanding of Life Dao.
If Death were static, then life was mobile. Static things never changed while mobile things were ever-changing. The world had so many changes precisely because of the presence of life. So many different cultures, so many lives—all of them could be considered as the true essence of the entire world.
All signs pointed that Ye Chen was not far away from the Life Dao, and the time he had spent in this process was extremely small.
On a snow-covered island, Ye Chen emerged out of the slaughter and returned to his normal state. Life was not just an ever-raging tempest, it could also be a steady stream. Living alone on a small island, his heart turned strangely calm as it turned like a mirror, reflecting all his previous experiences.
Ye Chen built a small house by the lake.
The snow began melting, welcoming spring. The withered grass by the hut began to emit a green hue. The days became increasingly long, changing every day.
"Winter is over, and everything is recovering." A soul light flickered in Ye Chen's heart, as if he'd grabbed onto something.
As the days passed, the snow-covered island turned into a world of green. The life blossoming here didn't change due to the external transformations.
"This is how it is. No matter how life changes, its ultimate goal is to verify its own existence. Slaughter is fine, cruelty is fine, darkness is fine, cold is fine, beauty is fine—all are but the processes leading to the source of life. Life is the true essence of existence."
Bang!
An explosion seemingly rang in Ye Chen's mind and he felt his whole body clearing and brightening. At this moment, he had finally comprehended the Life Dao.
As his Life Dao reached ten percent completion, the life-and-death aura coming out of his body underwent a huge change. His death aura, which was suppressing the life aura, was now neck-and-neck with the life aura. However, compared to martial artists at the peak of life-and-death chamber's third layer, this aura was several folds stronger.
At this point, all he needed was to kick open the door of this chamber.
Due to his recent breakthrough, his life-and-death aura leaked out, affecting the entire island. Flowers bloomed and withered while plants turned lush and slowly dried out. It was a scene similar to that in the Life and Death Secret Realm, except less abstruse, less mysterious, and less grand.
"Break!"
Ye Chen thrust him palm, devoid of any Zhen Yuan and profound, at the huge rock by the lake.
Puff!
The huge rock turned into dust, scattering away in the air.
Ye Chen's battle strength had reached a new peak even though his realm had not yet increased. The palm strike just now contained the death's erosion as well as life's fury.
"Comprehension of the Life dao is done. Next comes verifying my Death and Life dao against each other and entering the Life and Death Realm."
Comprehension of the Life dao was challenging, but verifying Life and Death dao against each other was a bit simpler. Of course, the process could not be instant, and would take some time.
...
While Ye Chen was comprehending the Life dao, countless figures were searching for his traces. All of these people wore blood-colored robes and had cold expressions.
"Lord, he is not here."
"Lord, there are no traces of him."
"Lord, some people saw him here, but he is gone, heading north."
The masked man was holding a snail, which was incessantly emitting different voices.
"Damn it, he must be found soon!"
The masked man's body was substantive and emitted an extremely powerful aura; this was clearly his original body. After finding out that Ye Chen had left Eternal Sky Sect, the masked man immediately headed out to chase him down, bringing along four Life-and-Death Kings with him, each of whom had more than a thousand blood-robed guardians. All of these blood robed guardians were the substitute candidates of Blood Ocean's fifty robbers. Of course, they were still in the fostering phase. The resources required to cultivate them could bring down a fifth grade sect. Moreover, these people were destined to not live for too long. Their life force had been overdrafted to incite their potential.