Published at 15th of January 2026 7:49 am

Chapter 1725: Source of the Dao

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The chaos continued, and Wang Wei watched with cold eyes. With each world destroyed, countless screams echoed between Heaven and Earth, and a red, fiendish aura slowly encapsulated the primordial aura. Paragons are higher beings, and the strings of karma do not bind them as much as they should. However, after thousands of worlds destroyed, trillions upon trillions of lives ruined, even those beings cannot escape the consequences of such mass slaughter.

Meanwhile, Wang Wei pushed his Karma Unbound Physique to the highest level, shielding himself from all consequences or responsibilities for his orders. If not for the need for the overall plan, Wang Wei would have absorbed all this karma to use as a weapon or something of the sort. Long ago, when he was still a [Mortal], he worried about being assimilated by this world, but now, it was too late.

After living so long, even if he was considered one of the youngest Primals, he was still an old monster by any Earthling standards. After all, he was now older than the universe (13.8 billion years) according to scientists. In many aspects, Wang Wei has lost his battle against [Time], and the primary one is the loss of his humanity. At this stage of his life, his survival instinct and the pursuit of Dao take precedence over 95% of everything else.

With every passing minute, the situation of the Infinite Divine Court worsened. Once a node is tested, the Primordial Saints will move on to another one. And after more than an hour of fighting, most of them have been eliminated, leaving over a dozen Saints testing one node. The Tribunal Lord controlling the court’s array tried to send in false information with faulty nodes, but with knowledgeable individuals such as the Erudite Duchess and the Heaven Cardinal, such an approach soon proved useless.

After most nodes had been tested, the battle reached its peak. At this point, everybody understood that something was about to happen, and it was only a matter of who would make the move. Will the invaders keep the steady approach or make an unexpected move to consolidate their advantage? Or will the Infinite Divine Court finally reveal a trump card — for example, their hidden Tribunal Saint?

Luckily, no one had to wait to receive an answer. A projection of a massive white palace, with infinite layers each containing countless books and scrolls, suddenly manifested between Heaven and Earth, exerting a terrifying pressure. Many people were shocked, not understanding what that library was, but the Tribunal Lords knew: a Dao Quintessence. They were shocked that the Erudite Duchess had walked so far in the creation of her own Grand Construct.

Although they didn’t stop their battles, everybody — including the enemy’s Tribunal Lords — looked at her with envy, especially the Heaven Cardinal. What was a Dao Quintessence? A Grand Construct? It was not a simple dimension that contained a particular law or power. Its fundamental essence or core was that it was the very origin — the source — of that Dao.

The River of Fate is the origin or source of all Fate Dao in the Chaos Universe. The River of Time controls all aspects of time, and even though Grand Dao created it after the Genesis Age, it’s still the source of time in the entire universe. The reason that the third-step Transcendence is on par with Grand Dao is that they have become the source of their Dao; in other words, they have escaped the shackles of one of the most fundamental Grand Constructs: the Grand Dao Source.

As the Heaven Cardinal watched the duchess’ actions, he almost could not control his envy and release his killing intent. Just being the stewards of the Grand Constructs granted the cardinal the power to condense both their Soul and Flesh Quintessence. Sadly, it also cut them off from ever having their own Dao Quintessence.

’If I could kill and swallow her, I could have a bright future,’ the Heaven Cardinal could not help thinking. The duchess’ primary Dao is Heaven or the path of knowledge and secrets. However, as soon as these thoughts came into his mind, the cardinal squashed them. He still remembered what happened to Fate.

Why was he being replaced? The latter became ambitious and tried to reverse the River of Fate back to its previous form — the Fate General — and swallow it so he could escape his servitude and reach the third step. What happened afterward is something the Heaven Cardinal or any other Cardinal would never forget. Grand Dao summoned everybody together and unleashed the most horrifying punishment on Fate.

No matter how they achieved it, all the cardinals remain second-step powerhouses who have lived for eons and possess immense willpower. However, the Heaven Cardinal has never forgotten the pig-like screams that were emitted from [Fate]’s mouth. Then, Grand Dao indifferently launched the Fate Seed Projection and even forced Fate to search for his own replacement.

Despite what they say or how they act, many cardinals secretly respect [Fate]. He did something that most of them dare not even think: trying to escape. And even afterward, the Fate Cardinal even dared kill as many of the Fate Seeds as possible, trying to delay his replacement and even find a way out. Unfortunately, by now, everybody has realized that everything has been under Grand Dao’s control, including his failed escape. They are cog in a machine, and while other sentient life might have a chance at escaping, it’s impossible for them.

’Calm down,’ the Heaven Cardinal spoke to himself. ’You’ve come so far, and we’re this close, let’s not allow greed to get in the way.’ Forget how he’s probably no match for the Erudite Duchess, and even if he were, acting now would only ruin his plan. So, he calmed down and watched carefully.

After the library showed up, the Erudite Duchess’s six artificial Grand Constructs fluctuated as she injected the true essence of a [Grand Construct] into them from the library. Then, they turned into six magnificent magic circles of different colors: purple, black, blue, silver-gray, green, and white.

"Seal," the Erudite Duchess proclaimed.

"Stop her," a voice of the utmost urgency spread throughout the battlefield. Everybody realized her target was not the array, but this timeline’s true Grand Constructs. The Infinite Divine Court’s Lords wanted to execute this plan, but their enemies were already warned and prepared, so their actions were futile.

"Burn!" the armored Tribunal Lord roared as their aura suddenly increased. Then, as more than five second-step powerhouses tried to suppress them, the Tribunal Lord’s armor suddenly left their body, revealing an androgynous man who was so handsome that without a good look at him, they would think it was a beautiful woman with a thin figure.

The Star Manifestation Tribunal Lord waved their hands to control the armor and use it to imprison all five enemies. Under normal circumstances, that would be an impossible feat, but that armor was designed to draw immense power from its array, and more importantly, Star Manifestation had used a secret technique to burn his own [Existence] for a quick boost in power. They only needed a few seconds of imprisonment, which they used to target the duchess’ seal.

Boom!

The black magic circle, which was the manifestation of the Samsara Six Paths, released a terrifying black beam to stop the Star Manifestation. The latter waved their hands to create a galaxy, but not a normal one. No, in this galaxy, every atom or subatomic particle itself is actually a condensed galaxy, forming this system of infinitely layered star powers. Yet, even with such a unique technique and with the current secret technique boost, the Star Manifestation Lord was almost injured by that one attack. They had to focus all their attention on blocking that beam.

’Damn it,’ Star Manifestation thought. They did not expect this woman to be this powerful, which made them wonder whether that was even the fullest extent of her power. Not to mention that the others may also be hiding their full power.

’Should we ask Suiji to intervene?’ Star Manifestation thought. ’No, she can’t be interrupted.’ Suiji’s success is too critical to the court, so even if they must sacrifice this entire timeline, it may be worth the price. In that case, there was only one left for Star Manifestation to do. Unfortunately for him, before he could react, another beam hit them.

’Now,’ the Erudite Duchess said to the prepared Maitreya. A golden Buddha suddenly manifested between Heaven and Earth before reaching out to slap the weekend Star Manifestation. At first, the latter’s reaction was a sneer: how dare an ant try to attack them? But then, they sensed the terrifying power hidden in that palm.

They wanted to struggle and block the attack, but it was too late. The weakening from the duchess’s attacks, the burning of their [Existence], and the backlash from temporarily sealing five Tribunal Lords simultaneously had pushed them to their limit. And Maitreya’s attack was perfectly timed.

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