Sovereign of the Ashes

The Buddhist faction moved quickly.

Even while exchanging formal greetings with the Magus Civilization, its massive army of billions of Buddhist cultivators had already finished preparing for battle.

Unlike the Daoist faction of the Immortal Realm, which was divided into several major factions and numerous celestial courts, the Buddhist faction had remained united from beginning to end.

Hundreds of millions of Buddhist cultivators poured out from the Buddha Realm and its subordinate planes.

By the time they reached the interplanar teleportation array leading to the Magus Civilization’s battlefield, many of the factions both from the Magus Civilization and the Immortal Realm involved in the war had not even had time to react.

The Buddhist faction did not care. Their stated purpose was to rescue their fellow disciples, eradicate evil, and settle old grudges.

Mosquito Daoist had a deep and longstanding feud with the Buddhist faction. Although he had most likely vanished without a trace long before they arrived, that did not stop the Buddhist cultivators from hunting him.

Moreover, if the opportunity presented itself, the Buddhist faction fully intended to eradicate this Rank Eight overlord once and for all.

Part of their reason for joining the Magus Civilization’s war was to gather intelligence.

If they managed to uncover even the faintest trace of Mosquito Daoist, they would make sure he paid dearly!

The Buddhist faction’s mobilization caused quite a stir. With so many cultivators and so much overlord-level combat power on the move, there was no way to keep things hidden.

The Dragon Clan, Jie Sect, and Yao Clan had already set out, so the other sects and ordinary cultivators of the Immortal Realm could more or less guess where the Buddhist army was headed and what it intended to do.

As the enormous Buddhist force began its march, far away on Mount Kunlun, within the Jade Void Palace...

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi, the leader of the Chan Sect, sat high above the palace and gazed into the chaotic void beyond Primordial World.

It was almost as if he could see the Buddhist army setting out beneath a sea of golden light.

So far, the Chan Sect was the only major Daoist power in the Immortal Realm that had yet to give a clear response to the Magus Civilization’s request for aid.

In truth, many sage-level powerhouses within the Chan Sect wished to travel to the Magus Civilization’s battlefield and join the war.

Among them were True Lord Erlang, Nezha the Third Princess, and several others.

Each of them had established their own heavenly court beyond the Immortal Realm and commanded more than a hundred million soldiers and generals. Any one of them possessed enough strength to wage a large-scale war on their own.

However, the Chan Sect’s supreme patriarch, Celestial Venerable Yuanshi, currently showed little interest in joining.

In his eyes, too many factions from the Immortal Realm had already entered the Magus Civilization’s battlefield. If the Chan Sect joined now and tried to claim a share of the spoils, the benefits it could obtain would likely be extremely limited.

Besides, for the past several hundred years, Celestial Venerable Yuanshi’s attention had been focused elsewhere.

Turning his gaze away from the Buddhist faction’s departing army, he looked down at the tortoise shell, jade talisman, and sheet of yellow paper laid out before him, then began making calculations with his fingers.

Naturally, he was not divining the course of the Magus Civilization’s war. Instead, he was searching among the Three Thousand Great Daos for a trace of his junior brother’s True Soul.

“According to the divination I performed a thousand years ago, my junior brother’s reincarnation should have already appeared... but why can’t I sense him?” he murmured.

“The Great Dao is concealing his aura. Could this be related to the ‘impending calamity’ that Master mentioned before leaving the Immortal Realm? The conflict between Buddhism and Daoism won’t erupt anytime soon. So what exactly is this calamity...?”

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi furrowed his brow slightly.

In truth, when it came to divination, Sage Laozi was even more skilled than he was. Unfortunately, Laozi rarely attempted to divine fate or peer into the future.

Perhaps it was just as the wisest soul-level astrologer of Magus World had once said: those who pried too deeply into fate would eventually be consumed by it.

The junior brother Celestial Venerable Yuanshi referred to was none other than Sect Master Tongtian, the founding sage of the Jie Sect.

He had perished several hundred thousand years ago. Fortunately, a trace of his soul seal had survived.

After being cast into the Reincarnation Underworld and nurtured for countless years, his reincarnation had finally emerged.

Although Yuanshi referred to Tongtian as his junior brother, Tongtian was also the biological younger brother of both Celestial Venerable Yuanshi and Laozi.

The Three Pure Ones had originally come from the same source, each transformed from a portion of Pangu’s primordial spirit.[1]

During the Investiture of the Gods back in primoridial era, the three brothers had indeed clashed over their differing beliefs.

The conflict between Celestial Venerable Yuanshi and Sect Master Tongtian, in particular, had escalated until the two finally came to blows.

Sect Master Tongtian deployed the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, while Celestial Venerable Yuanshi joined forces with the other sages to break it.

That battle led to the decline of the Jie Sect and inflicted devastating losses upon its disciples.

The grudge between the two sides remained unresolved even until Sect Master Tongtian’s death.

Sect Master Tongtian had perished during one of the Immortal Realm’s wars of external expansion, dealing a tremendous blow to Celestial Venerable Yuanshi and even Sage Laozi.

People often only learned to cherish something after losing it.

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi had never openly expressed his feelings. Deep down, however, he knew better than anyone that he owed his younger brother far too much.

His determination to find Sect Master Tongtian’s reincarnation came from a simple desire. He wanted to fulfill his duty as an older brother and make amends for the past.

With Celestial Venerable Yuanshi, a top-tier Rank Eight Sage of the Immortal Realm, watching over him, and Sage Laozi, one of the Immortal Realm’s greatest pillars, as his elder brother...

The moment they tracked down Sect Master Tongtian’s reincarnation, his cultivation would inevitably soar like a rocket!

Even raising him to the Sage Realm within a very short period would not be particularly difficult.

Forcibly accelerating the birth of an overlord was something most planar worlds would not even dare to imagine, but for a civilization like the Immortal Realm, it was hardly a major issue.

Even the Magus Civilization could rapidly produce one or two overlords within a short period if the situation truly demanded it!

The Gallant Federation, another top-tier civilization, was equally capable of doing so. In fact, that was exactly what it was doing now.

Otherwise, how could the Gallant Federation possibly withstand the pressure exerted by the Magus Civilization and its allies?

Of course, such methods came at the cost of draining a plane’s future potential, so even top-tier civilizations would not resort to them lightly.

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi was not suggesting that his junior brother should be forced to grow too quickly.

However, even if he could offer nothing else, he could still let Tongtian’s reincarnation freely choose from his collection of world-class secret treasures.

As for Sage Laozi, he could provide elixirs in unlimited quantities!

With that kind of backing, what genius could possibly fail to grow rapidly?

Moreover, the Jie Sect founded by Sect Master Tongtian was still flourishing.

Could anyone imagine the scene of an Immortal Realm cultivator, most likely only Rank Four, perhaps even lower, suddenly discovering that he had an entire group of sage-level disciples and mounts waiting for him?

As Celestial Venerable Yuanshi continued his calculations, the sheet of yellow paper before him suddenly burst into flames with a hiss.

Greenish-blue smoke curled upward from the ashes.

At the same time, the tortoise shell to his left began trembling slightly.

A moment later, it shattered.

A dim ray of divine light shot out from within and intertwined with the rising smoke. Both then resonated with the jade talisman beneath them, causing a faint and hazy image to slowly materialize before Celestial Venerable Yuanshi.

His previously calm expression instantly froze. Those piercing eyes stared fixedly at the vision, as though afraid of missing even the smallest detail.

The first thing to appear was a peaceful village filled with flowers and singing birds.

Immediately afterward, a weathered signboard slowly came into view. Carved upon it in ancient seal script were three characters: Duan Family Fortress.

Just as Celestial Venerable Yuanshi was about to probe deeper, the hazy scene before him suddenly dispersed.

From the summit of the Jade Void Palace, the vast, ethereal peaks of Mount Kunlun stretched endlessly before Celestial Venerable Yuanshi.

In the distance, flocks of divine birds and immortal cranes soared above the mountains. It was almost as if everything he had just witnessed had been his imagination.

But Celestial Venerable Yuanshi knew very well that it had been real!

He had truly caught a glimpse of his junior brother’s reincarnation!

His previously composed expression suddenly flushed with excitement, and even his naturally imposing aura seemed to become livelier.

“Quick! White Crane Boy, come here at once!” Celestial Venerable Yuanshi urgently summoned his attendant.

Before long, a white-robed boy with a shaved head and a single braid appeared before him.

White Crane Boy held a high position within the Chan Sect. Aside from serving as Celestial Venerable Yuanshi’s attendant, he was also a disciple of the Great Emperor of Longevity.

Although he looked like a child, he already possessed strength at the peak of the Quasi Sage Realm.

“Investigate this immediately! Mobilize the Four Heavenly Courts. Issue decrees throughout heaven, earth, and all living beings. Search every mountain, sea, river, and lake! Find this place for me!”

As Celestial Venerable Yuanshi spoke, he pointed toward an image he had formed between his fingers.

It showed the small mountain village and the weathered signboard bearing the words Duan Family Fortress that had appeared within the hazy scene moments earlier.

White Crane Boy did not yet understand what was happening, but he was caught off guard. In the past hundred thousand years, this was the first time he had ever seen the sect master so worked up.

After memorizing every detail within the image, White Crane Boy immediately transmitted the information throughout all territories under the Chan Sect’s control, carrying out the sage’s verbal decree.

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi pondered for a moment before adding, “Focus the investigation on Primordial World, but act with the utmost discretion. I don’t want any evil forces or beings intercepting this information.”

White Crane Boy respectfully acknowledged the order, then asked, “Venerable Master, should we issue another decree to subdue the evil forces?” ℴℴ𝘮

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi nodded. “Issue it. Turmoil has been growing throughout the Immortal Realm in recent years, while the other sage courts have focused most of their attention on the war beyond the realm. As the leading school of the righteous path, our Chan Sect has a duty to protect the peace and stability of the Immortal Realm’s rear.”

Of course, the truth was much simpler. He merely wanted to prepare the best possible cultivation environment for his junior brother’s return.

As for all those heretical powers and evil forces... they could go straight to hell!

1. Translator’s Note: The Three Pure Ones are the three highest deities in the Daoist pantheon. In this novel, the term refers to the three brothers who established the Chan, Jie, and Human sects of the Daoist faction. ☜