Chapter 280.3: The Ten-Year Term Arrives and the True Body Descends! Lu Changsheng Tears Through and Departs! (III)

Having fused with this world, the Demon Progenitor understood the Dao very deeply.

Only by discussing the Dao with him did Lu Changsheng discover that, in terms of realm, the Demon Progenitor had long since reached the level of an Earthly Saint. In fact, he had already traveled a long way down the Earthly Saint path. It was only because the world itself held him back that he could not break through and remained at the level of Martial Saint.

Of course, reaching the realm did not guarantee becoming an Earthly Saint. It was not that easy. Relatively speaking, though, if the Demon Progenitor began cultivating again from the start, he would face no real bottlenecks. Given enough resources, he could quickly build strength to match his realm.

As the two of them sat and discussed the Dao, they hardly noticed time passing.

The days went by until, at last, the time came.

Bzzz...

Suddenly, the whole world shook gently. The tremor, however, was so faint that not even the ancient demons or the blood descendants at Fifth Growth could detect it. Ordinary people also noticed nothing at all.

Lu Changsheng and the Demon Progenitor, however, broke off their discussion immediately.

"At last, the two worlds are meeting," remarked the Demon Progenitor. "Fellow Daoist Lu, is it time?"

Lu Changsheng nodded and rose to his feet. "Fellow Daoist Meng, it is indeed time. Are you ready?"

The Demon Progenitor had no surname; he simply called himself Meng, so Lu Changsheng had decided to call him by that name as well. The fact that they addressed each other with "Fellow Daoist" showed they had built at least a basic measure of trust.

Whoosh!

The Demon Progenitor sprang to his feet. He stared straight at Lu Changsheng and spoke in a low voice, one word at a time. "I've waited far too long for this day and made every preparation since long ago. Please, Fellow Daoist Lu, make this work."

Lu Changsheng nodded. "Very well."

With that, they rose and took to the skies. As they made no effort to hide themselves, the people of the capital saw Lu Changsheng and the Demon Progenitor right away.

"Look. Who's that?"

"I think it's the progenitor."

"Yes, it's the progenitor. I don't recognize the other one, though."

"What's the progenitor doing up in the sky?"

Many people stopped and stared at the two figures.

Paying no attention to the crowds below, Lu Changsheng drew a deep breath. Across the vast distance, he reached out to sense his true body in the Secret World Pavilion of the Immortal Martial World.

Whoosh!

His true body had sensed him as well and opened its eyes. In that very moment, his true body and his consciousness found each other.

Boom!

The next instant, without the slightest hesitation, his true body projected its power. At once, the power of a top-tier Earthly Saint came pouring into Lu Changsheng in an unending stream.

"Saint Body!"

Lu Changsheng manifested his Saint Body immediately. The terrifying might of his Saint Body climbed higher and higher until the surrounding sky outright shattered and faint threads of pitch-black space showed through the cracks.

That terrifying aura was already at the Demon Progenitor's realm, namely Sixth Growth. Still, it did not stop. The momentum pouring off Lu Changsheng kept climbing steadily.

At last, his aura burst through some kind of shackle with a roar.

Crack!

The sky finally broke apart as the whole world seemed to wail, unable to bear power as terrifying as his.

The Demon Progenitor was shaken to his core and was all but paralyzed with terror.

"So this is the Flesh and Blood Progenitor's true power in his own world? It's truly... beyond imagining. This power has already surpassed this world's limit. Even this world cannot bear it..."

Now, the Demon Progenitor finally understood why Lu Changsheng had been so certain he could help break him free. With power like that, even blowing the world apart would be effortless, so what was freeing one being from it? No more than a walk in the park for Lu Changsheng. To the Demon Progenitor, however, it meant everything.

It's back. That familiar feeling, that familiar power...

Lu Changsheng smiled, letting his aura loose without restraint. Below, countless blood descendants dropped to their knees, trembling. It was a fear that came from the depths of their souls.

Having not forgotten his real purpose here, Lu Changsheng threw a punch.

"Break."

At once, the Martial Dao shattered. The Martial Dao condensed from the will of the masses had just been shattered. With a sweep of his great hand, Lu Changsheng seized the Martial Dao fragments at once.

Mission accomplished!

With those Martial Dao fragments, not only would his Perception grow, he would also advance further in his Earthly Saint cultivation. His ten years of hard work in the world had not been in vain.

Of course, Lu Changsheng had merely shattered the Martial Dao; he had not erased it. As long as blood descendants still existed and people still practiced the Flesh and Blood Martial Dao, it would slowly recover. Given enough time, it would make no difference to the blood descendants at all.

In truth, the proper approach would be to take control of one world after another and then harvest their Martial Dao fragments slowly, time after time. Unfortunately, that approach was hardly feasible. Given that every world was constantly on the move, how could anyone actually control them? Without proper control of those worlds, one could not reliably harvest their fragments. As such, searching for worlds again and again, and taking risks, was the only realistic way to go about it.

"So you really were here for the Martial Dao..." murmured the Demon Progenitor, a strange light flashing in his eyes. "Shattering the Martial Dao and collecting its fragments, is that it? This must be how cultivation works in your world..."

Lu Changsheng seemed very satisfied with how everything had concluded here. He turned to look at the Demon Progenitor.

"Fellow Daoist Meng, is there anything you still need to tell the demon race?"

The Demon Progenitor merely shook his head. "Everything that needed saying was said long ago. It has been so many years since this old man created the demon race. How they live from now on is for them to decide."

In truth, he did not care that much about the demon race. To him, it was his own freedom that truly mattered.

"Very well. Then watch closely, Fellow Daoist."

Lu Changsheng took a deep breath, then, he struck out with one palm. "Sever!"

The palm blotted out the sky, aimed straight at the Demon Progenitor.

In that moment, the Demon Progenitor felt the threat of death. He understood that if Lu Changsheng's palm came down on him, he would certainly die, and with no chance of revival. He could not dodge either. If Lu Changsheng truly wanted to kill him, he could do so with a flick of his hand, no harder than crushing a bug.

The Demon Progenitor's heart and mind were violently shaken, yet he maintained his composure as best as he could. Whether he lived or died hung on a single thought from Lu Changsheng. In that moment, he was completely helpless.

Wham!

As the enormous palm came down, the crowd below stared at the sky in shock. They did not know who the Demon Progenitor was. Still, they knew anyone standing beside the Flesh and Blood Progenitor could not be an ordinary being. What was most shocking was the fact that, even after that terrifying palm had come down on him, the Demon Progenitor stood unscathed.

"I'm... not dead?"

The Demon Progenitor immediately checked himself, and what he felt was weakness, boundless weakness. He could not recall ever feeling that weak before. Then again, the weakness was only relative. Compared with how he had been while fused with the world, he was indeed much weaker. After all, this world had supported him entirely, and his power had been endless, so how could he ever have been weak?

Besides that weakness, he could feel something else: his link to that world had been completely severed.

"Free at last! I have finally broken free of this world's bonds." The Demon Progenitor bowed respectfully to Lu Changsheng in gratitude. "Fellow Daoist, thank you for giving me a new life!"

Indeed, in helping him break free, Lu Changsheng had truly given him a second life. As such, how could the Demon Progenitor not be moved? He had long dreamed of escaping that world, of breaking free of its bounds, and now, at last, he had done it!

Breaking free, however, was only the first step.

"Fellow Daoist Meng, I think it's time you saw a wider world. Let's go to the Immortal Martial World," Lu Changsheng proposed with a faint smile.

The Demon Progenitor nodded. With that, Lu Changsheng took him along and stepped out.

Whoosh!

One step, two steps, three steps...

Just like that, before the eyes of everyone watching, Lu Changsheng vanished from sight.

Then, with the power of an Earthly Saint, he tore straight through the world barrier and left this one behind.

Bzzz...

The next moment, Lu Changsheng's consciousness returned to his true body.