This laugh, this unrestrained and hearty laugh, made the hair on everyone's arms stand on end, a heavy pressure weighing down on their hearts.
Whether they belonged to the Immortal, Martial, or Yokai path, everyone felt a deep dread toward this grand laughter.
This dread was purely instinctual, a suppression originating from the very nature of their life forms.
These Dao Lords had not experienced such a feeling in countless years.
In the past, when they were still Epic, Legendary, Mythic, or Eternal Rank, they would feel this kind of dread when facing experts of higher realms and sensing the high-level aura radiating from them.
But ever since they stepped into the Unique Rank and achieved the title of Dao Lord, this dread had long since vanished.
Today, they actually sensed this dread once more.
This could only mean one thing: the source of this laughter was an existence above the Unique Rank.
In an instant, a multitude of emotions welled up in the hearts of the Dao Lords.
Tension, fear, shame, and... a trace of excitement.
So there was still a path ahead; the Unique Rank was not the end. Beyond the Unique Rank lay even higher realms and even more magnificent scenery.
But unlike the excitement of the other Dao Lords, the Great Sage's mind was completely consumed by rage.
His eyes were bloodshot and crimson, his face contorted in a grimace. He clenched his fists so tightly that the pointer in his hand let out a sharp, cracking sound under the immense pressure.
It was hard to believe that this Great Sage, the pioneer teacher of transcendence, could also become so red with fury.
Yet the Great Sage was the Great Sage after all; his anger flared up quickly but subsided just as fast. As his blood cooled, he calmly accepted the outcome of his defeat.
“Alas, such is the will of heaven. When I was at the Mythic Rank, I could not defy the will of heaven. I did not expect that even after reaching the Unique Rank, I still cannot defy you.”
With a hint of reluctance, the Great Sage raised his head and looked upward, staring into the completely empty cosmic void.
He had schemed for countless years. If no unexpected variable had occurred, he would have been the only one listening to this grand voice and catching a glimpse of what lay beyond the Unique Rank.
In this way, by seizing the initiative and leveraging this grand ritual, he would have received gifts regarding the higher realms.
Armed with this knowledge, he, the Great Sage, could have preached to the myriad worlds once more, acting as the enlightenment for all transcendent beings across the cosmos.
He could have told the world that even after so many years, he was still the guide of transcendent civilization, the guiding beacon for all transcendent beings in the myriad worlds.
An insurmountable mountain of books standing forever above thousands of transcendent systems!
A teacher for a day, a teacher for a lifetime; if not a teacher, then rather death.
This was the Great Sage's obsession, his own little pursuit outside of truth itself.
Under the washing of time, other Dao Lords had gradually developed some rather abstract little hobbies.
The Martial Dao Lords organized tournaments for their disciples and opened massive betting pools.
The Dao Lords of other systems also had their own respective quirks.
Compared to them, the Great Sage was actually considered quite normal.
Except the price for this normalcy had to be borne by the trillions of ordinary lives across the myriad worlds.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
The grand laughter echoed once more. Immediately after, an inexplicable wave of energy descended upon every Dao Lord present, including Chen Xu and the Great Sage.
It even reached the armor transformed from the Mother of Hell inside Chen Xu's Undead Dao Court.
In the next instant, all the Dao Lords present were transported into a mysterious space by this enigmatic energy.
“Where is this? Why is there such a strong scent of decay?”
The Hunyuan Dao Lord swept his fly-whisk, wrapping himself in a layer of celestial qi to block the unpleasant, decaying aura from entering his body.
Chen Xu also looked around, while secretly trying to communicate with his Undead Dao Court and open a spatial gate.
However, the Dao principles of this mysterious space seemed completely different from anything he had known before.
Here, all of Chen Xu's past experience was entirely useless.
Doubt and a desire for knowledge appeared on the face of every Dao Lord.
Thus, in the next moment, everyone turned their heads in unison to look at the Great Sage in their midst.
Sensing the gazes of everyone around him, the Great Sage instantly adjusted his expression, returning to his calm demeanor as if everything was within his grasp.
“Ahem.”
He coughed twice in a performative manner; this common habit of teachers clearing their throats before speaking actually originated from the Great Sage.
“A long, long time ago, so long ago that transcendent abilities had not yet appeared in the myriad worlds.
To be precise, when no other transcendent abilities existed, the ritual was the sole transcendent system.”
The Great Sage walked forward and spread his hands, speaking with dramatic cadence.
“Back then, humanity was still in a primitive stage. The slightest change in the environment could easily take their lives.
A single rainstorm, a snowfall, or a drought was an unacceptable disaster for a newborn civilization.
At some unknown point, one of our ancestors gathered the fruits they had foraged and the prey they had hunted, laying them out to begin a ritual known as a sacrifice.”
As he spoke, the Great Sage actually raised his hand, using his mana to outline a picture.
Since the Dao principles did not manifest here, the image was extremely crude, but one could still make out a group of scantily clad humans kneeling and praying to the heavens.
“A single sacrifice bought these fragile ancestors a ten-year period of peace.
Rain fell in measured amounts without causing floods; snow fell in due season without killing; the sun hung high in the sky, dispelling calamities.
These ancestors fell into ecstasy, believing they had found a way to communicate with heaven and earth, believing they had found transcendence.”
“However, once the ten-year period ended, heaven and earth reverted to their previous state, and the ancestors suffered a heavy blow once more.
The ancestor who had initiated the sacrifice pondered deeply, unable to understand why the sacrifice was no longer working.
But soon, he found a solution.
And that was...”
The Great Sage paused intentionally.
“To raise the stakes. To raise the stakes of the sacrificial offerings, and to expand the scale of the sacrifice!”
“The items used for the sacrifice changed from poor-quality fruits to freshly picked, leafy ones.
The sliced pieces of meat also became whole prey.
The sacrifice succeeded once more, and the ancestors again received pity and rewards.
Thus, sacrifices—or rather, rituals—spiraled out of control from then on, slowly developing into a complete, structured transcendent system capable of communicating with the heavens and showing reverence to the gods.”
A trace of fanaticism appeared in the Great Sage's eyes, and his voice trembled slightly.
“The threshold of the sacrifices grew higher and higher. Whole prey could no longer satisfy the demands of the 'heavens'; the offerings had to be alive, sacrificed to the 'heavens' only right before the ritual.
Ordinary prey was no longer the highest tier either. The highest-tier offerings gradually evolved to become... humans.
Wise humans, beloved by the world.
This was the origin of the ritual, and the origin of transcendence in the myriad worlds.”
The Great Sage withdrew his mana, then cast it out again to outline a new pattern.
“Driven by human desire, the scale and frequency of sacrifices began to spin out of control, but the 'heavens' seemed very pleased to see this.
Thus, in addition to granting the wishes of the ancestors, extra things were bestowed.
That was the prototype of transcendence—the most basic and simple ability to comprehend the world's Dao principles and clarify one's own heart.”
Having listened to the Great Sage's explanation, Chen Xu did not lose himself in it. Instead, he utilized his top-tier nitpicking skills to instantly spot the key detail.
“So the 'heavens' are not the World Will, but the source of the ritual. And the source of the ritual is an existence similar to the World Will?
Furthermore, it is like an extremely picky audience member. It easily loses interest in repetitive things, reducing the ritual's gifts or even refusing to bestow them altogether.
Only by constantly raising the stakes and increasing the ritual's budget—whether it's the scale of the stage, the cast of actors, the plot, or the props—can you make it satisfied?
Is this why you schemed this play of merging the six worlds into one?”
“Bingo. Spot on, Your Excellency Chen Xu. You indeed possess extraordinary qualities.
What a pity. If you had been born a few years earlier, perhaps we could have become fellow Daoists who speak the same language.”
The Great Sage shook his head, lamenting the pity, but quickly returned to the main topic.
“The development of rituals has been largely restricted by ancient sacrificial thinking. Later generations only blindly raised the stakes; I reckon that existence had grown tired of it long ago.
But some years ago, the birth of that special world which shook the myriad worlds allowed me to discover a new opportunity.
Logically speaking, a ritual of that scale should not have created six Unique Rank entities all at once, let alone Unique Rank entities of world races.
Not to mention six extremely special worlds.”
“So, you set your sights on this viral topic and planned to replicate it?”
“Indeed. But unfortunately, that Astral Behemoth named Thor only stumbled into it by accident; even he couldn't explain the intricacies behind it.
Therefore, I had to abandon everything and place myself under Heaven, studying the Rulers of Special Worlds while planning the development of the ritual.
Of course, I have my people in Hell as well.”
Chen Xu's eyes darted around as three words escaped his lips.
“Fallen angels!”
“Aha, Your Excellency Chen Xu, I find myself liking you more and more. However, the fallen angels are but one of them, and the current focus is not on those old stories anyway.
I believe the Dao Lords are already getting impatient, and so am I.”
The Great Sage turned around, looking toward the pitch-black darkness ahead where the path was obscured. He bent his waist and lowered his head, calling out in a respectful tone.
“Greatest among the great, the Unique above the Unique, we beg you to reveal your true form, so that we ants may catch a glimpse of your greatness. This is the plea of humble ants, and our sole wish.”
One second passed, two seconds passed, three seconds passed, but there was no response.
The Great Sage remained in that posture, not rising.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes, still without any response.
Although the Great Sage was puzzled, he still did not rise.
Chen Xu, however, could not sit still. Now that the ritual had ended, they logically should have received their proper compensation. It was time for this 'audience member' to pay the actors.
Thus, he walked forward alone and began to search around.
This bold move made the other Dao Lords look at each other in surprise.
They had not read the Sage's "Role-Stealing Method" and did not understand the ritual as deeply as Chen Xu and the Sage did, so they naturally could not comprehend their behavior.
The Sage treated this unknown existence as his provider, not daring to defy it in the slightest.
Chen Xu, on the other hand, viewed himself as an overworked employee whose wages were being withheld. He was here to demand his pay, righteous and completely fearless.
Before long, within that endless darkness, Chen Xu discovered something—something that made him gasp in shock.
“Hiss... Everyone, and you over there with your back bent, stop bowing and come take a look.
This thing is incredibly interesting.”
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