Chapter 1446: The Taotie Records

"At this rate, how long will it take?" the Demon Sovereign said. "You spent nearly sixty years looking for just this one arm."

"We will take it slowly," Chen Changsheng said.

The Demon Sovereign let out a breath. "I'm just asking—what if this all leads to nothing?"

"Then it leads to nothing."

Chen Changsheng said, "We have both made many attempts on this path and failed just as many times. What does one more or one less matter? It just means a little more time passing by."

The Demon Sovereign paused, then nodded. "You are right."

Chen Changsheng always traveled in fits and starts, keeping himself busy.

...

Meanwhile, bizarre events had recently begun to plague the Cultivation World.

Cultivators discovered that ambient Spiritual Energy was inexplicably disappearing. Occasionally, it would gather in a specific direction, only to vanish entirely in an instant.

In just half a month, the Spiritual Energy around certain Immortal Sects thinned at an alarming rate.

Many assumed a rare treasure had emerged and searched everywhere for it, but they found absolutely no clues. Meanwhile, the dissipation of Spiritual Energy only worsened.

Occasionally, when cultivators passed by former blessed sanctuaries, they were shocked to discover that the Spiritual Veins had been completely hollowed out without a trace.

Only then did they realize something was terribly wrong.

"Someone is stealing the Spiritual Veins!"

The numerous cultivators of Xuanhuo Immortal Mountain began searching for clues.

Much later, on a certain day, they ventured deep into their Spiritual Vein and discovered a figure within.

The figure was gnawing at the Spiritual Vein, swallowing an endless stream of spiritual liquid.

"This person..."

The cultivators' eyes widened, full of sheer disbelief.

Was someone actually swallowing raw spiritual liquid?

Wouldn't doing this cause his body to explode?!

In that stunned moment, the figure seemed to snap back to his senses. In a flash, a brilliant arc of Sword light slashed outward.

"Fall back!"

Amid the ensuing chaos, the intruder devouring the Spiritual Vein seized the opportunity and fled.

Although the Daoist cultivators deployed numerous tracking arts to hunt him down, they ultimately found no trace of him.

"What kind of monster is he?"

"To actually swallow raw spiritual liquid?"

"Could it be a special cultivation art?"

The elders of Xuanhuo Immortal Mountain could not locate him either. Left with no other choice, they tightened security to prevent their Spiritual Vein from suffering further damage. This was, after all, the very foundation of an Immortal Sect.

Jiu Fengchun had fled Xuanhuo Immortal Mountain. Over the past few months, he had fed on their Spiritual Vein, suppressing his gnawing hunger. He had devoured nearly a third of the entire vein.

Now that he had been discovered, he could not stay any longer.

Left with no choice, he moved on to his next target.

He constantly fought to maintain his sanity. When he first discovered that spiritual liquid and spirit stones could suppress his endless hunger, he had been overjoyed, feeling as if he had finally found the key to controlling his urges.

He truly believed he could control himself.

But there were always countless variables.

...

Over the years, Xiao Dongxu had spent much time in deep contemplation.

The vast library of Tianji Mountain was no longer enough for him. He successively visited several other Immortal Sects.

He read countless texts, attempting to find any records regarding the Heavenly Dao.

Entirely by chance, he unearthed an ancient tome containing a specific passage.

"The chaos of heaven and earth stems from cultivators. By seizing the power of heaven and earth, they disrupt the natural transformations of the world. Sensing this, Heaven desires to sever the immortal path..."

Xiao Dongxu muttered the sentence to himself.

He immediately checked the ancient tome for a recorded date.

He searched throughout the text but found only simple narratives; no dates were marked.

The text detailed an exceedingly ancient event.

It likely dated all the way back to the primordial era.

"In the primordial era, the immortal path was nearly wiped out?"

Xiao Dongxu frowned slightly. He couldn't be entirely certain if the book was merely someone's fictional musings, but the authenticity of its contents made him believe it to some degree.

Using the figures and Immortal Sects mentioned in the text as a guide, he cross-referenced his findings with other records.

He searched far and wide, making inquiries everywhere.

Finally, deep within the ruins of a fallen Immortal Sect, he found another account regarding the primordial era.

And from it, he uncovered a name.

"Taotie?"

The book was heavily damaged, but that did not matter. The events recorded within its surviving pages heavily overlapped with his previous discovery, detailing the ancient catastrophe from an entirely different perspective.

"It is real!"

Shock rippled through Xiao Dongxu. He had never expected that his search for clues regarding the Heavenly Dao's physical incarnation would inexplicably lead him to such an earth-shattering secret.

...

In the time of Huaixu, Chen Changsheng returned to the Mortal World.

He made a trip to the Purple Bamboo Grove. He visited the grove every three years, and Xiao Dongxu was already there waiting for him.

Over the past three years, Xiao Dongxu had still found absolutely no clues regarding the physical incarnation, but a specific word in his recounting gave Chen Changsheng pause.

"Does Mister know of the Taotie?"

Chen Changsheng was visibly taken aback. "Where did you learn of that?"

Xiao Dongxu blinked. "The Taotie actually exists?"

Chen Changsheng nodded. "It does indeed."

Xiao Dongxu immediately detailed his findings.

"When I first found the ancient tome, I had my doubts. But when I discovered a second text that heavily corroborated it, I realized this matter was not so simple. The Heavenly Dao desires to sever the immortal path—such an event likely truly occurred in the primordial era."

"Back then, the immortal path was nearly driven to extinction!"

"And the key factor in that catastrophe was the demonic beast known as the Taotie. It devoured all things, gnawing away at the Spiritual Veins of the world. Because of it, the Spiritual Energy across the entire Cultivation World was abruptly cut in half during that era..."

Chen Changsheng listened closely, not missing a single word.

"The Taotie didn't just feast on Spiritual Veins; it loved to eat cultivators even more. It swallowed them whole! According to the records, countless cultivators perished in its jaws back then. A number of ancient Immortal Sects were completely devoured by it."

"It wasn't until later that humans, demons, immortals, devils, and ghosts all joined forces. By pooling their qi destiny, they managed to slay the Taotie. At first, most assumed it was merely an ordinary demonic beast causing havoc. But later, as cultivators began examining its corpse, they realized the Taotie had not been born of nature..."

"They found the Dao rhythm of heaven and earth within it! They even found the very will of heaven and earth!"

"They did not dare to make this discovery public. Ultimately, the few cultivators who knew the truth recorded it in ancient texts and passed it down in secret. According to their records, only five cultivators ever learned of this. So far, I have only managed to find the accounts left behind by two of them."

Xiao Dongxu caught himself and said, "This matter has been troubling me greatly, so much so that I momentarily forgot about the task Mister entrusted to me. I hope Mister will forgive me."

Chen Changsheng returned to his senses and shook his head. "You speak too heavily. After all, it is This Chen who is asking for your help."

Xiao Dongxu said, "I am extremely interested in this matter. I wonder if Mister might be willing to help me look for more clues along the way?"