Steadily becoming a saint, the immortal officials hired me to tend the horses Chapter 1135 - 1126: Wushi’s Calamity

What path should be taken now?

An Xin found herself paralyzed by her master’s inquiry. She understood this was a trial of her wisdom, yet she questioned why he chose such a dire moment to test her. Despite her increased strength, the staggering weight of cause and effect at the Great Dao level remained far beyond her capacity to endure.

Unable to restrain her frustration, she cried out, "Master, why ask me at a time like this? Just tell me your will and what you require of me, and I shall do it."

A smile played on Gu An’s lips, though under the spectral influence of the Reversing Void Eye, his expression took on a sinister cast.

"What if my choice is to never yield an inch?" Gu An countered.

To not yield an inch?

An Xin’s face paled slightly. She asked with palpable caution, "Are you suggesting a rebellion against the Great Dao? Do you intend to show no salvation to the living beings within it?"

"The Great Dao has branded me its foe, and the masses are mobilizing against us. The path ahead for Wushi is fraught with peril. Our options are to flee into the void to forge a new order, or to remain within the Heavenly Dao to repel invaders from every Dao Universe until the Great Dao is forced to submit."

Gu An’s voice was frigid as he laid out these grim prospects.

An Xin felt a crushing weight in her chest. Though she had no counter-argument, the reality of the situation filled her with dread. How had they reached this point? Wushi had always stood as the righteous protector; how had it transformed into the Great Dao’s greatest calamity?

She harbored a desperate hope that this was all a scheme by some hidden enemy, yet her master had openly confessed to it. Her Absolute Void Eye confirmed the truth: the man standing before her was truly her master, not a deceptive double.

Gu An offered no words of comfort, for the truth was harsh, and his own resentment toward the Great Dao had festered. He had suppressed his own urges, yet the Great Dao continued to incite all living beings to hunt him down. Even in retreat, there was no sanctuary to be found.

While the Great Dao lacks a sentient mind, its instinct for self-preservation had identified Gu An as a mortal threat. This was a fundamental conflict of existence; Gu An and the rest of creation were now on opposite sides of an irreconcilable divide.

After giving An Xin a long, piercing look, Gu An dissolved into the air, leaving behind a final declaration:

"This conflict between the Great Dao and Wushi shall be the Great Dao’s most grueling trial, and the true first tribulation for Wushi—one that carries both a beginning and an end."

An Xin stood frozen in a trance, whispering his final words, "A beginning and an end..."

She sensed the underlying promise of a total replacement of the old order.

...

The Wushi Calamity!

The myriad realms and all the heavens were thrown into chaos by this upheaval. Every world began a frantic purge, hunting anyone or anything tied to the name of Wushi. Even former disciples who had long since left the Sect were hunted down. Opportunists used the chaos to settle old scores, branding their personal enemies as Wushi heretics.

A flood of Wushi disciples scrambled to return to the safety of the Wushi Realm, while many others met grizzly ends in distant worlds. Inside the Wushi Realm itself, the mood was suffocating. These cultivators had been raised to believe the Great Dao was the source of all things and that serving it was the highest justice. To move against the Great Dao felt like becoming the very evil they once fought.

Dissent began to brew. Disciples started to protest, pleading for the Ancestor to explain himself or to abandon this path of rebellion.

At the foot of the mountain where Gu An resided, a sea of millions gathered. Wushi disciples and cultivators who had been reborn into the realm crowded the slopes until not a single patch of earth was visible.

Wu Xie hovered in the sky, his sheer presence acting as a barrier against the million-strong crowd. He blocked the path of the most hot-headed disciples, making himself a target of their collective rage to protect the mountain’s sanctity.

"Ancestor Wu Xie, you cannot support the Ancestor in this madness!"

"Is it truly our destiny to slaughter all life and dismantle the Great Dao?"

"Has Wushi not been the pinnacle of righteous Cultivation since the beginning? Why have we turned into this?"

"Ancestor Wu Xie, do not force our hand!"

Listening to the furious shouts of the disciples, the stoic Wu Xie finally reacted. A cold, mocking laugh escaped him.

Wu Xie extended his right hand, summoning a long spear into his grip. He leveled the weapon at the crowd below, unleashing the terrifying pressure of a Xuan Qi Primordial Immortal. The earth trembled under his Cultivation.

"You fools don’t even know where you stand," he spat. "A pack of ungrateful curs—anyone who makes a move dies; anyone who sets foot on this mountain dies!"

His murderous intent saturated the air, and the raw origin power of the Daoist Emperor surged uncontrollably. Silenced by his overwhelming aura, the gathered masses fell into a terrified hush.

At the mountain's peak.

Gu An stood at the cliff's edge with his hands clasped behind him. He looked down at the chaos, his heart heavy with irony. The human heart was indeed a fickle thing. Wu Xie, born from the remnants of the Daoist Emperor’s will, had become his most steadfast protector, while the disciples he had nurtured were the first to waver. At best, they remained silent; at worst, they shouted for his head.

In that vast silence, Wu Xie’s defiance was a thunderclap. Despite being a being of the Dao, he had mastered his own nature to remain loyal.

Gu An knew the time for a final resolution had arrived.

He stepped into the void, leaping through the fabric of space and time until he reached a realm of absolute darkness. With a flick of his left hand, the Wushi Realm appeared in his palm, shrouded in a veil of mysterious gray fog. Below his feet, a massive staircase manifested, descending into the infinite gloom.

He released his aura, a beacon to every cultivator in the Dao Universes, signaling that he was here and waiting. He shattered the barriers between the Dao Universes, inviting anyone with the courage to face him to step forward.

Looking out over the sprawling myriad realms, a profound sense of isolation gripped Gu An for the first time. He had come to the Great Dao alone, emerged from Chaos alone, and was born into the Heavenly Dao alone. Now, he would face the end alone.

He understood that the Will of the Dao was an irresistible force for most living beings, yet he also realized he had transcended them all. No matter how much he tried to diminish himself to fit into the world, he was no longer part of it.

As Gu An stood in contemplation, figures began to appear on the various steps of the staircase. The more powerful the cultivator, the higher the step they occupied. A towering figure, possessing power rivaling a Taoist Master, landed on a high step and glared upward. He wore black armor and a blood-stained cloak that whipped in the wind. Dragon horns protruded from his dark hair, giving him the appearance of a demon lord.

Gu An recognized him instantly.

This was the Wanyin Demon Venerable, the fated rival of the Wanyuan Dao Ancestor. Both had been created by the Great Dao as twins of equal talent, destined to check one another. Had Gu An not intervened in destiny, these two would have plunged the Great Dao into war to establish a new order for the Endless Dao. Even the Dao Master who birthed Chaos would have been eclipsed by them.

Because of Gu An’s presence, the Dao Master had attempted to transcend the status of a Saint—an act that violated the laws of the Dao. The Great Dao creates life, but it never allows its creations to become a threat to its own existence.

In truth, the Dao Master’s downfall was linked to Gu An. Without Gu An, his fate would have been far more gruesome. The deeper one’s Dao Practice, the closer one moves toward an inevitable collision with the Great Dao itself. The Great Dao is a terror beyond comprehension; it can turn a cultivator's own power into a blade directed at their own throat.