Chapter 2289: Chapter 2336: Brand New Ancestral Dao

Jiang Fan’s fair, jade-like skin gradually turned a sallow yellow, oozing grease. His long hair, once as black as pearls, faded to grey. His eyes lost their luster, and his vitality steadily decayed. The faint stench from moments ago had become overwhelmingly pungent.

The surrounding butterflies and bees scattered in all directions.

Even more severely, as his Ancestor Ring shattered, Jiang Fan’s cultivation rapidly plummeted. The aura of the Peak of Heavenly Human Five Declines instantly dropped to the Heavenly Person Four Declines, and it continued to fall. At this rate, Jiang Fan’s cultivation would regress below the Divinity Transformation Realm. His life force would also weaken drastically; in a few months at most, he would die from exhaustion.

*RIIIP!*

Suddenly, the sky above split open, revealing a massive rift. Outside the crack stood a pale warhorse, panting heavily. Seated upon it was a majestic figure draped in a black cloak that billowed in the wind.

It was none other than the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis.

Even though he had lost his Blood Spear and his strength had diminished, Great Wine Sacrifice and the others still couldn’t stop him. The empty-handed Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis glared with blood-red eyes, bursting with a terrifying ferocity.

"Is Central Earth your final destination?

"How truly unexpected.

"With the Ancient Saint of Cloud Desolation absent from Central Earth, who is left to protect you?"

To the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s surprise, Jiang Fan remained rooted to the spot, completely motionless. He merely lowered his head to quietly gaze at the Demon Infant Fruit in his palm. Life and death, heaven and earth—all of it had lost its meaning to him at this moment.

"Oh?" The Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis noticed the anomaly. His gaze swept over Jiang Fan, and he frowned slightly. "To think you would enter the Heavenly Human Decline. Your Dao Heart shouldn’t be this fragile."

As a Hunter who had pursued him for a long time, he knew full well that Jiang Fan possessed a tenacity and patience rarely seen in a lifetime. Even in the most desperate of moments, Jiang Fan would never give up. His Dao Heart should have been exceptionally strong. He wondered what Jiang Fan had experienced to cause his Domain to shatter.

Looking at Jiang Fan, who had entirely lost his combat capability and will to live, the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis lost interest. "Boring," he said indifferently.

He slowly turned around and walked toward the outer heavens. Without even looking back, he casually flicked his hand, firing off an apocalyptic beam of light. The beam pierced through the spatial rift and shot straight toward Jiang Fan.

This was a strike from the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis. It was a Saint Destroyer capable of obliterating the vast majority of Practitioners in the Three Calamities Realm who were below the Saint Realm. Killing a wooden, lifeless Jiang Fan would be as easy as flipping a hand.

In a mere instant, the beam arrived right in front of Jiang Fan.

Just as it was about to penetrate Jiang Fan’s body and utterly annihilate him, the unexpected occurred.

On the dim and lackluster Ancestor Ring behind Jiang Fan, five strange white motes of light suddenly appeared in the exact spots where the Domain fire had once been ignited. They were minuscule, looking like five distant stars, yet exceptionally bright.

It was currently daytime in Central Earth, with the blazing sun shining down. Yet, the dazzling sunlight shockingly failed to suppress the radiance of these five stars. They were purely and primitively bright, like the very first ray of dawn between heaven and earth.

Even more inconceivably, the white lights gradually expanded, ultimately transforming into five white flames. The fires of his Domain vanished, replaced by these five mysterious white flames.

The Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s body jolted violently. For the first time, a voice of absolute horror escaped his lips: "Th-This is the Ancestor Dao Fire?

"Jiang Fan has actually been cultivating the Ancestor Dao, and he successfully ignited the Ancestor Dao Fire!

"How is this possible? How could this be? In this day and age, how could anyone still step into Sagehood via the Ancestor Dao?

"Even in the most glorious era of the Daqian Divine Kingdom, stepping into Sagehood via the Ancestor Dao was merely an ethereal legend."

At this thought, a flash of panic crossed the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s eyes. "Die! He must die!"

As an old monster who had survived since the era of the Daqian Divine Kingdom, how could he not know that the moment one stepped into Sagehood via the Ancestor Dao, they would receive a blessing from the Heavenly Dao? During the Daqian Divine Kingdom era, no one was willing to provoke a Practitioner stepping into Sagehood via the Ancestor Dao. This was especially true for an unparalleled powerhouse who had already reached the Heavenly Human Five Declines and was only one step away from Sagehood.

Because no one could guarantee whether they would successfully break through or not; once they did become a Sage, they possessed the power to kill all experts below the Saint Realm. Even a primordial giant like him would be slaughtered without mercy.

Fortunately, the beam of light he had fired was already right in front of Jiang Fan. Even if Jiang Fan reacted now, he possessed absolutely no power to resist.

However, causing the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s pupils to shrink, the beam meant to annihilate Jiang Fan was suddenly deflected by some indescribable, unseen mighty force. It bypassed Jiang Fan entirely, piercing through the space on the other side and shooting into the Void.

"The Heavenly Dao is protecting him!" the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis exclaimed in shock.

The first person in ten thousand years to step into Sagehood via the Ancestor Dao! The Heavenly Dao itself had descended to act as Jiang Fan’s Dao Protector!

The Ancestor Ring behind Jiang Fan rapidly transformed. The five clusters of Ancestor Dao Fire grew increasingly radiant, spreading along the cracks to every corner of the Ancestor Ring.

*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*

Amidst the dense, popping sounds, the fractures multiplied until they covered the entire Ancestor Ring. Its surface looked like a piece of dried moss, riddled with crisscrossing cracks. Under the burning of the white flames, the wrinkled exterior was peeled away piece by piece, revealing a smooth, snow-white interior.

When all the wrinkled layers finally flaked off, a brand-new Ancestor Ring was born! It was like a blazing sun, radiating a brilliant white light so dazzling one couldn’t look directly at it!

Under its scorching heat, plumes of black smoke rose from the surface of Jiang Fan’s body. The rot of the Heavenly Human Five Declines was burned away completely.

At this moment, his five Domains completely reached Perfection!

Jiang Fan gripped the shriveled Demon Infant Fruit tightly. There was no joy in his eyes, only sorrow.

He thought, "The Heavens derive fifty, yet the Great Dao is forty-nine. Even the Heavenly Dao has a sliver of imperfection. How could my flawless, completely perfect body align with the Heavenly Dao?"

His Domains had long been unable to fuse—not because of some flaw he was unaware of, but quite the opposite. It was because they were too perfectly complete, which fundamentally contradicted the Heavenly Dao!

No wonder... No wonder those who historically cultivated the Ancestor Dao almost never became Sages, to the point where it became an ironclad law that the Ancestor Dao could not lead to Sagehood. Who could have imagined that for the Wuque Ancestor Dao to reach Sagehood, it required a flawed body to do so!

It was just that this flaw was too heavy... so heavy that Jiang Fan could hardly bear it.

Outside the spatial rift, the panic in the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s eyes intensified. Jiang Fan’s five great Domains had already fused into one. All that remained was to melt his merits and cast the Merit Divine Stele!

He raised his fingers, rapidly tracing out three profound trajectories. He couldn’t let Jiang Fan become a Sage! Absolutely not!

However, when the Quasi-Immortal Technique rushed to Jiang Fan’s back, it was once again swayed by the Heavenly Dao, brushing harmlessly past his side. The residual shockwave from one of the trajectories shattered a corner of the island.

Jiang Fan’s gaze turned frosty as he slowly turned around, his face exceptionally cold. His two eyes were like ice caverns, exuding a chill that made even the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis shudder. Through clenched teeth, he unleashed an infinity of hatred:

"Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis!!!"

If the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis hadn’t been so aggressively overbearing, Jiu Meng wouldn’t have sacrificed herself.

Jiang Fan’s eyes were bloodshot. He clenched his palm heavily, and a massive Merit Divine Pearl appeared in his grasp! "I want you dead!"

*BAM!*

Jiang Fan struck the Merit Divine Pearl into the Ancestor Ring with a single palm thrust. The Ancestor Ring, which had previously struggled to bear his merit, easily absorbed the Merit Divine Pearl in its brand-new state.

The next step was simple.

He only needed to melt the Ancestor Ring and condense it into the Divine Stele unique to Sages!

Then, he would become a Sage of Attainment!

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