The Ancient Saint Emperor of the Heaven-shading

Chapter 322 Sacrificial Ceremony, the Eleventh Ancestor

The altar traces back to the past, and the small courtyard on the plateau is recreated.

In the lake, the lotus of eternal reincarnation sways.

In that small courtyard, the trees along the main road were lush and seemed to be chanting sutras.

In the courtyard, Wang Hongwu sat cross-legged in front of the zither, coughing from time to time. Not far away was a rough millstone, and nearby was a small stove brewing tea. Beside it was a flowering tree with pure white buds, emitting a sweet fragrance.

Here, he pushed the ten chief priests to unite their positions and reach the ultimate sublimation, which caused ten kinds of diseases to emerge, each corresponding to a color substance and a calamity. Even their bodies were flowing with extremely ominous blood and dripping with strange patterns.

From afar, the Origin Mother Gold outside his body transformed into a feathered robe, refining the remaining ten ominous substances into one. However, this process was too intense, causing too many variables. The courtyard and the plateau held even more unknown stimuli, which made things even more bizarre.

Buzz! At this moment, sensing the boiling of the primordial matter, the harmonica trembled slightly and emitted a sound, which actually calmed the boiling matter slightly, allowing Wang Hongwu to carefully examine this ancient instrument. Its body was completely petrified, even its strings were like that. It was a stone artifact, even more ancient than bronze.

He began to play, and a melody resounded between heaven and earth, like the roar of a dragon or the cry of a phoenix, stirring up a thousand great principles and myriad rules, cleansing the heavens and the earth.

Then the stone zither played softly, its sound resounding throughout the cycle of reincarnation, changing the world. The melodious music actually calmed down the boiling primordial gold within his body, which had been infused with ten ominous substances.

"The sound of the zither can suppress the ominous signs, but it can only suppress them. I still need to harmonize them myself." Wang Hongwu knew the root of the problem. He adjusted his primordial material and gradually refined the ten ominous signs. The primordial mother metal burst forth with unprecedented brilliance.

Gradually, his body changed. His hair turned crimson, and a layer of armor-like golden scales appeared on his body, adorned with dazzling silver patterns. Large patches of purple crystals grew on his shoulders, elbows, knees, and back, spreading with a blue aura. Then, a bronze coffin appeared beneath his feet. Not only were there mottled rust stains between his fingers, but also large wisps of gray mist. With each breath, pure white holy light shone, while his eyes remained dark and lifeless.

The ten ominous substances merged, unleashing a terrifying power that surpassed the highest limits, ascending to another realm, causing the endless sea of ​​time to evaporate, all worlds to shatter, the Great Dao to perish, and the infinite universe to turn to ashes, while he alone remained eternally in the world.

Then, his body collapsed again, leaving only ten ominous evolutionary paths guarding the Tai Sui Path. Then, they all merged into it, pushing Wang Hongwu's figure to reappear. This was equivalent to one system as the main body, from which ten equally supreme systems were derived!
Once the ritual is performed, one immediately enters a profound and unfathomable realm. Because no one has ever performed the ritual in this way before, too much of the Dao is burned and the flames are too intense, so much so that Wang Hongwu's body is constantly burning out and reappearing. It comes from nothing and goes back to something, from nothing to something, and then from something to nothing, and so on, endlessly repeating the cycle.

And those ten root causes of disease have now fully formed. Besides the previously identified Black Blood Burning the Path, White Fiend Withering and Flourishing, and Gray Mist Eternal Silence, there are seven more:
Silver-Veined Soul Devouring: The patient's primordial spirit gradually becomes viscous, eventually turning into boiling silver veins that continuously seep from the pores. Reason is eroded, and the body is deformed into a living polluted spring that constantly spews silver veins, with consciousness sinking into endless pain. Amethyst Collision: Forces the patient's body to crystallize in parts, and where the amethyst spreads, a completely different split will is born.

Golden Scales Reversing the Path: The patient's Dao bones transform into metal scales, with golden mist seeping from the gaps between the scales. Wherever the mist covers, all things degenerate into their primitive form, and living beings fall from their realm. Brown Rust Mottled: The true spirit rusts, and brown spots appear. Where the spots spread, supernatural powers fail, and magical treasures decay. The patient disintegrates into the void like ordinary iron.

Blue light disappears: The patient begins to fade and become ethereal, affecting not only the physical body but also the soul and the concept of existence. From a diminished sense of existence and blurred memories to the complete disappearance of existence, related memories and causality are also erased from the consciousness of others, completely transforming into a blue phantom that has lost all individual characteristics and imprints of existence.

Bronze Coffin: The patient is forcibly injected with boiling bronze liquid, which makes him stiff, until he is completely solidified into a heavy, cold "bronze coffin" covered with ancient patterns, and his consciousness is eternally frozen in the metal cage.

Red Hair Ominous Sign: The patient's body hair turns red, hardens, and covers the entire body. Accompanied by madness and misfortune, the patient becomes a red-haired monster who only knows how to kill and spread disaster. Its existence itself is a moving natural disaster, constantly attracting and amplifying all negative energy and calamities around it. This is the most primitive, violent, and uncontrollable omen of misfortune.

“This state can indeed be elevated to achieve the path of sacrifice, because the combination of ten ominous substances is the earliest primordial substance, which is different from the ten substances alone. It is true that the ten ancestors occupy positions, but the primordial substance corresponds to the bronze coffin master, and I can ascend to it.”

Wang Hongwu sensed that he had broken through the highest limit and was transforming towards the realm of sacrificial rites. At the same time, his Tai Sui system was also sublimating. Taking advantage of the fact that this courtyard was located before the origin of everything, he spread his system to truly realize its 'idea', which was to contain all the calamities and diseases of the ages and spread out continuously to cover the entire timeline.

Gradually, blood and chaos surged forth, engulfing Wang Hongwu. He was experiencing all the calamities and ailments of the vast world contained within his system, and all kinds of battles and tribulations werefalling him, such as the annihilation of his clan, the destruction of his realm, the destruction of endless time and space, and the destruction of the infinitely vast primordial universe, leaving only himself.

The eternal blood war continues, from the origin to the infinite future. He fights and struggles in the sea of ​​living beings composed of his opponents, slaying them all.

Those were countless enormous figures, that was the endless Dao. He walked alone with disheveled hair, cutting through everything, sweeping away all obstacles. Looking back, he finally found his true self and regained peace.

After everything was over, the Tai Sui system was completely perfect and flawless, and began to burn. Endless flames burned, and his Dao fruit illuminated the void, constantly collapsing and disappearing.

The flames were incredibly intense, engulfing Wang Hongwu and making him disappear. Only flickering flames remained in his place. This was a transcendence of limits, a transcendence of the world, a leap beyond so-called eternity, an annihilation of all cause and effect.

Day after day passed, and the flames dimmed, as if they were about to go out. After experiencing a terrible death, there was a period of eternal silence, and all traces of the world disappeared. This was a necessary tribulation for the path to sublimation.

Then, in the flickering firelight, a voice rang out:
"Offer sacrifices to Heaven, to myself, and to the Way!"

That was Wang Hongwu's voice, chanting incantations. The sacrificial bowl, floating in the firelight, also lit up. With a boom, the whole world resonated, and a violent tremor shook the entire universe. The boundless Great Dao burned, and its brilliant light illuminated the past and present.

The once extinguished flames of the Great Dao suddenly blazed fiercely again, and the figure reappeared, his aura immense and powerful, shaking the mortal world and the vast universe. Wang Hongwu bathed in the flames of the sacrificial fire and stepped out once more!
He performed a ritual, ascended to the highest level, and became one of the strongest beings in the world.

Apart from the bizarre progenitor, very few people throughout history have reached this point; they are fewer than a handful!
Many people, even if they have accumulated enough experience, will never reach this level in their entire lives, even if they have that kind of insight or opportunity.

Normally, to perform a sacrificial ceremony, one needs to prepare for many years and go all out, without allowing any external interference, just to have a sliver of hope. But Wang Hongwu took a different path, directly annexing the ten chief sacrificial positions and evolving the origin matter, achieving it all in one go.

At this moment, Wang Hongwu walked in the courtyard. The surrounding roads were burning, like the flickering candlelight beside him, which could only illuminate the dim road with a faint light. It was nothing compared to the power of the sacrificial ceremony, which surpassed the Great Dao.

He stretched out his body and felt an omnipotent power. The Heavenly Dao, all the rules, and all the order had lost their meaning to him. All that remained were the condensed patterns of his own evolutionary path. With a single thought, runes flowed throughout the vast expanse of time and space, all of which were the patterns left after his sacrifice to the Dao!
Upon his breakthrough, his cultivation level rose to an extremely profound realm, enabling him to suppress and kill multiple ancestors. It was precisely because he entered the level of sacrificial rites that Wang Hongwu vaguely sensed something: his own system, his own philosophy, the ten kinds of ailments, etc., were all too compatible with this plateau.

“There are also primordial substances in the plateau. When we return this time, we should make preparations and work with Shi Hao from the inside to completely resolve this issue.”

He knew that the primordial substance was ashes, belonging to a being who once lived on this plateau and died on this plateau. Its power was scattered here, creating the plateau, which could continuously resurrect people related to it. The ominous tribe absorbed its primordial substance and was recognized as part of the plateau's power, so it could continuously resurrect.

Wang Hongwu's current state is a symbol of primordial matter and a part of the plateau. Of course, what he wants is for the plateau to become a part of him.

After he left, the scene in the courtyard did not disappear. A figure like him appeared, suffering from illness and pain, and began to forge bronze on the plateau, carving out a stone jar. Then he burned himself, and his ashes fell into the jar, were placed in a triple bronze coffin, and buried at the foot of the plateau.

Until one day, the plateau collapsed, and the bronze coffin was exposed on the surface. As the terrain changed, the coffin lid opened, and the ashes in the stone jar spilled out.

After countless years, an outsider finally appeared in this place. As if aware of the danger, he came hiding in a sealed coffin.

However, they were still corrupted, tainted by the ashes of the plateau, and underwent a bizarre transformation. They all went mad, shattering the Lotus of Eternal Reincarnation, causing it to perish for countless epochs, and also cracking the earth. The objects in the courtyard flew off in all directions.

boom!
At the same time, the plateau in the Etu Ancestral Land trembled as if it were sensing something.

To many, the plateau is omnipotent, but at this moment, it trembles, vaguely sensing something.

"That person, my former master, is he not dead?"

A wisp of mist echoed, trembling, before slowly disappearing. The plateau is conscious, even more mysterious and terrifying, but it carries the power left behind by that person; in essence, that person is its master.

And it always wanted to be that person.

On the other side, on the altar in the center of the sea, Wang Hongwu, who had been missing for a long time, reappeared, and this time his return caused a terrible shock.

The sacrificial patterns and flames spread out, causing the Hall Master of the Guiding Hall to cry out and retreat, his face filled with horror. "You've reached the pinnacle of your path and ascended to the same level as Huang?"

“The ten masters are one, and I have already offered sacrifices to the Dao.” Wang Hongwu nodded slightly, but his words were astonishing.

Sacrifice to the Way!
Burn away all rules and order, sacrifice the supreme path, achieve true sublimation, and become invincible above!

The realm that only the Ancestor, the Pollen Emperor, and the Desolate Heaven Emperor had reached has now been surpassed by another person, making it a momentous event that has shaken the world.

Because such a being is extremely rare, even the Hall Master of the Guiding Palace was momentarily confused. He had never even touched that realm before; it was too distant.

However, this is also a good thing, at least they have hope of counterattacking Edo and defeating the progenitor.

Then, Wang Hongwu looked at the nine chief priests standing respectfully to the side, and a Ten Fiends Totem suddenly flew out from his body, taking over the vacant white chief priest position.

Subsequently, the Ten Fiend Totems were integrated into the Ten Priests, bearing the Ten Diseases and Calamities. The True Dragon Black Priest, the Divine Lime Priest, the Heavenly Ant White Priest, the Kunpeng Green Priest, the Sword Grass Purple Priest, the Thunder Emperor Gold Priest, the Divine Cricket Blue Priest, the Netherworld Hound Brown Priest, the True Phoenix Red Priest, and the Qilin Silver Priest all returned to their positions and became the new generation of Priests.

"Ten chief priests, all of them are your totems. Are you really going to devour the land of Calamity completely?" The Lord of the Guiding Hall gasped. This was truly formidable. Calamity had changed everything after its arrival. Not only had a new ancestor emerged, but the world had also been transformed, with the ten chief priests all being replaced.

Wang Hongwu did not rush back, but stayed in the sacrificial sea, analyzing the countless worlds buried there, immersing himself in the process; these seas were also being absorbed and reshaped by him, ignited with sacrificial fire, tracing the origin and restoring their integrity; now, he has discovered that the primordial sacrificial fire formed after his sacrificial ceremony can achieve a similar effect to the sacrificial bowl.

It's as if the formation of this object is related to the sacrificial path and certain characteristics of the sacrificial path.

At the same time, he also infused the power of the sacrificial path into the pollen ancestral seed, and together with the desolate true body hidden in an unknown place, he guided the pollen emperor back!

However, Wang Hongwu and Huang deliberately concealed their identities. The former used the advantages of the system to trace back to the origin on the altar and appeared in that courtyard again. Using pollen seeds as a medium, he once again guided the Pollen Emperor back. In this way, regardless of whether the ancestors could deduce it or not, they would all 'think that an old-fashioned figure' was helping them, rather than a newly promoted member of their own family.

With the two priests acting simultaneously, and with the help of a medium and preparations, the Pollen Emperor naturally broke free from the suppression of the ancestral coffin and stepped into the present world from countless years ago, reflecting and reappearing.

The three ancestors who were fighting against the clone of the Desolate Sacrifice Dao frowned and immediately realized that the pollen woman they had suppressed had actually broken free.
“There is another mysterious sacrificial being helping, who is not a person of this world.” As they worked, they deduced and tried to find out the origin of 'Wang Hongwu', but after he sublimated the primordial matter, he had become one with the plateau. No matter how the ancestors deduced, they could not figure it out. They could only find the plateau and a mysterious courtyard.

In the end, because the plateau contained a power that transcended the ritual path, they could no longer see these scenes!

The identity of the third, most mysterious priest remains unknown.

At the same time, a sense of unease arose within the land.

Previously, after Wang Hongwu annexed the ten chief priests, some slumbering ancestors were awakened and keenly sensed the difference. In the past, there were only ten of them, corresponding to the ultimate sublimation of ten ominous substances. The original ten chief priests were their subordinates. But just now, the subordinates disappeared and reappeared, and the source was disconnected from them and connected to another existence.

In the progenitor's deduction, it was not an enemy, but a strange creature, even more orthodox and purer than them, which was a primordial substance made up of ten ominous substances and used as a sacrifice to the Dao!
"Ten high priests have met with misfortune, but it seems there's an extra fellow Daoist?" The resurrected Amethyst Ancestor's expression was somewhat strange. This was hard to say, because the importance of ten high priests was indeed far less than that of one ancestor. Even if the former were replaced by the latter, it would be acceptable.

However, this had never happened before in Edo, leaving them somewhat bewildered.

"Let me see what this fellow Daoist's background is." Another Golden Scale Ancestor revived and began to deduce, trying to glimpse Wang Hongwu's past. What he saw was the trajectory of the Lord of the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit, and then he suddenly disappeared. A terrifying flame belonging to the sacrificial Dao realm spread over and burned everything.

History cannot be explored.

However, it can be confirmed that he is indeed a legitimate being of the Calamity Land, an ominous representative with impeccable lineage. He rose from the master of the Heavenly Emperor's Burial Pit to the White Priest, and then, in order to break through and go further, he defeated and occupied all the other priests, forming a situation of ten masters as one and reversing the original state.

The Amethyst Ancestor pondered, "It's not that I can't understand. After all, we are very special, always maintaining a number of ten. Unless the White Ancestor perishes, he will never be able to break through the sacrificial path in his lifetime, so naturally he will not be willing to accept it."

"The fact that he was able to break through the sacrificial path using this method has already proven his abilities. This is a good thing. With one more fellow Daoist, what does losing ten chief priests matter? We have now broken the number curse and have eleven ancestors!" Ancestor Golden Scale nodded slightly, showing no anger and even quite admiring it.

As Wang Hongwu said, the importance of one ancestor is far greater than that of ten chief priests!

“Indeed, this is a great joyous occasion and should be celebrated.” The third revived Silver-Patterned Ancestor also agreed. At the same time, they all looked towards the outer reaches of the Calamity Earth, where a response was being made. They couldn’t help but say, “It seems that this fellow Daoist’s sacrificial path is also quite extraordinary. We had just mentioned him when he arrived.”

boom!
The next moment, heaven and earth trembled, the plateau roared as if it were about to collapse, and the infinite Great Dao transformed into one divine chain after another, which then exploded into fragments, making the entire spacetime unstable.

Beyond that realm, there flowed an incomparably pure holy light, seemingly white, yet also like a blend of ten colors, evolving the heavens, the sanctuary, and the endless origin.

Before the origin, there stood a figure, elusive and unseen, its entire body surrounded by a metallic sacrificial holy light, boiling like flames and surging like waves, all its patterns intertwined to form the name 'Tai Sui'.

First came misfortune, then heaven, and I am even more in the midst of misfortune!
White Lord?

No, it's a new primordial progenitor!
"Ancestor, the primordial ancestor!"

All the dark creatures and bizarre races were shocked, then trembled, and involuntarily knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly.

Whether on a dark plateau or in some other ominous universe, they worship with trembling bodies, driven by an instinct, as if on a pilgrimage.

Even the most powerful Dao Ancestors felt their scalps tingle and their hearts tremble with disbelief.

The White High Priest, who had only recently been promoted, had already entered the ranks of the progenitors?

This is too fast and seems illogical.

From the White Lord to the White Ancestor, he created an unprecedented miracle in the ritual.

(End of this chapter)