Chapter 100: The Faceless Man

The song did not come from outside but arose from within.

“Damn!” Xu Zhong looked inward, using the Mirror Heart to reflect upon his Mud Pellet.

In an instant, he saw countless tentacles sprouting from the Mud Pellet Palace. These tentacles were thin and small within the sealed area, but once beyond it, they grew thick and powerful.

They extended from the Mud Pellet, reaching toward Xu Zhong’s eyes and every part of his body.

The Demonic Aspect of the Heavenly Dao sang leisurely.

Xu Zhong’s gaze followed the tentacles.

First, he saw his eyes.

The tentacles rooted themselves within his eyes, stirring up chaos. Moments later, they pulled out a skeletal Black Tortoise from his eyes.

“Is this the Black Tortoise imprint?” Xu Zhong’s heart jolted.

This Black Tortoise was the very one he had seen passing through his body in the mist.

“Perhaps back then, it implanted the imprint inside my eyes,” he pondered, speaking aloud to himself, “It planted the imprint in me to use my body to escape and live through a second life, a third life?”

Amidst his shock, a trace of joy arose.

“So that means I can leave this place.”

Otherwise, the Black Tortoise would not have embedded its mark within him.

Escape was inevitable, only a matter of time.

*Creak, creak!*

The Black Tortoise imprint was drawn back into the sealed domain by the tentacles.

Then, the Demonic Aspect of the Heavenly Dao manifested the Heaven and Earth Hair Form, reached out, stuffed the Black Tortoise into its mouth, lightly chewed, and exhaled waves of black demonic energy.

The demonic energy swirled and flowed, and Xu Zhong transformed into a Yellow Dragon.

But there was more than one such imprint.

Gradually, Xu Zhong also saw the imprints of the White Dragon, the Fire Phoenix, and the flute-playing woman.

Without exception, they were all devoured by the Demonic Aspect of the Heavenly Dao.

After consuming these imprints, the Demonic Aspect grew slightly stronger.

“You should let me out!” The Demonic Aspect retracted the Heaven and Earth Hair Form, standing within the sealed land, gazing at Xu Zhong across the barrier.

“I am you, and you are me,” it smiled gently. “Let me out, and you will possess all my power—power that can destroy heaven and earth, remake the cosmos. Then, what Li Feiyu or Thunder Ancestor are mere insects, easily extinguished with a breath.”

“At that time, the entire universe will be like a single elixir. Swallow it, and you become the source of all things, the beginning of everything...”

Xu Zhong ceased reflecting upon the Mud Pellet with the Mirror Heart, and he could no longer see the Mud Pellet nor hear the Demonic Aspect’s voice.

“Oh dear, looks like you’ve failed?”

Suddenly, a voice whispered in his ear.

Startled, Xu Zhong hastened to put distance between them.

But no matter how far he moved, a streak of sunlight hovered above his head, illuminating the illusory surroundings and locking onto his position.

Like a lighthouse.

This beam attracted all ships lost in the darkness.

No sooner had Xu Zhong landed than a surge of intense yin energy billowed behind him.

In the next moment, he sensed the breath of another nearby.

Turning his head, he saw a faceless figure, long hair flowing, dressed in white as pure as snow.

Xu Zhong was about to speak when the faceless one reached up and plucked the sunlight from above his head, kneading it until it transformed into a cycle of reincarnation realms, then hung it behind their head.

“Seems there’s something peculiar about your body,” the faceless one said, looking left and right, then stroking their chin.

“Are you... talking about ventriloquism?” Xu Zhong spoke after a brief silence.

“...”

The faceless one calmed themselves and suddenly grabbed Xu Zhong, drifting off to an unknown destination.

Xu Zhong’s heart beat rapidly with unease.

---

Though the faceless one bore only a single cycle of reincarnation realm, their internal power surged mightily.

They grasped Xu Zhong firmly, preventing him from casting spells or fleeing.

“Your body is strange,” the faceless one chuckled, “It could be called fertile soil. Plant a tree in you, and who knows? A Dao Tree might sprout and bear fruit.”

Plant a tree?

Dao Tree?

Xu Zhong was utterly confused.

He hurriedly sought to reflect upon his Mud Pellet with the Mirror Heart.

If his life was in danger, he could at least remove the white-tiger diagram projection from the Mud Pellet and release the Demonic Aspect of the Heavenly Dao.

Just as the Heavenly Dao said.

He was the Demonic Aspect of the Heavenly Dao, and the Demonic Aspect was himself.

He could be suppressed but not killed.

An idea formed in Xu Zhong’s mind.

Gradually, the scene before him expanded.

Mist and clouds dispersed, torn apart by shimmering silver rainbow light, revealing a vast lake.

Yin energy lingered, fog settled.

Before he could approach, an icy chill surged from his feet to his head, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

Through the water’s surface, Xu Zhong saw brilliant ten-colored radiance, faint and elusive, reflected in the lake.

From the reflection, it appeared to be a tree.

Rippling waves disturbed the reflection and the tree’s leaves.

The leaves were as countless as stars in the sky, each shimmering with a unique hue.

This kaleidoscopic glow emanated from the tree itself.

Upon nearing, Xu Zhong saw the tree bore fruit.

“Cycle of Reincarnation Realms?” Xu Zhong’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Each fruit was a realm of reincarnation, crudely sewn into the trunk and leaves with awkward stitches.

“No wonder he called it a Dao Tree.”

Each cycle of reincarnation realm was an independent great Dao, existing beyond the Heavenly Dao, outside the Six Realms of Samsara.

This was the foundation for an innate deity to ascend to Daohood.

Yet now they were haphazardly sewn onto this giant tree, astonishing Xu Zhong.

“It’s called the Rainbow Tree, my foundation for becoming a Dao!”

The faceless one tossed Xu Zhong onto an island.

They reached out to gently touch the trunk.

Instantly, countless illusory paths sprouted from the trunk, leading to various places.

But all these roads converged at a hazy destination, unknown and indistinct.

“In our era, the rainbow was the bridge to heaven, the path to immortality. It connected heaven and earth—an ascent cultivators must traverse after surviving heavenly tribulations to become deities. Legend has it, it leads to the other shore, the source of the great Dao.”

Xu Zhong looked once more at that source.

Perhaps it was what the faceless one called the other shore.

“Every creator desires to reach the other shore, to pluck the source of the Dao and refine their own Dao fruit,” the faceless one sighed deeply.

“Do you know Thunder Ancestor?” they suddenly asked.

Xu Zhong nodded.

“Thunder Ancestor was an innate deity who died in the Second Divine War!”

The faceless one nodded: “Back then, Thunder Ancestor traveled to the other shore. He did not find the source of the Dao but found a sapling.”

“He planted that sapling within his body, nurturing it as his golden core, and forged it into a Dao Tree.”

---

Suddenly Xu Zhong recalled the towering ancient tree in the Dragon Capital’s realm—an immense tree called the World Tree.

“By relying on this sapling, Thunder Ancestor dominated his era, suppressing the ages, and at that time, the name Thunder Ancestor meant invincibility.”

“Could this tree be Thunder Ancestor’s golden core?” Xu Zhong had intended to say the World Tree.

“That’s not it!” The faceless one shook their head. “This is but a minuscule fragment of that golden core—a branch.”

“I spent tens of thousands of years nurturing the branch into a sprout, then hundreds of thousands more watering it so leaves could grow. Yet, for millions of years afterward, it still could not bear Dao fruit.”

The faceless one kept shaking their head.

“So, you sewed others’ cycles of reincarnation realms onto the trunk and leaves as Dao fruit?” Xu Zhong swallowed hard.

“You’re clever!” the faceless one laughed. “These cycles of reincarnation realms actually nourish the Rainbow Tree, making it stronger.”

“I can feel that in a few million years, it will grow into a golden core like Thunder Ancestor’s. Then when I plant it in my body, I will be as powerful as he was.”

“But even mighty Thunder Ancestor eventually died!” Xu Zhong sighed deeply. “He fell in the Second Divine War. And that’s how the Sea of Chaos came to be!”

“He did indeed die in the Second Divine War,” the faceless one sneered. “But not at the hands of the opponents in that war.”

Xu Zhong’s heart trembled. He focused intently, eager to hear the ancient secret soon to be revealed by the faceless one.

“He died at the hands of the Heavenly Dao.”

Xu Zhong frowned and asked, “Having become an innate deity, transcending the Heavenly Dao, how could he be killed by it?”

“Who knows?”

The faceless one lightly rose onto tiptoe and plucked a leaf.

The leaf shone with golden radiance; golden veins spread across its surface, each vein like a path suffused with the essence of Dao.

They placed the leaf in Xu Zhong’s hand, and the moment he glanced down, he was irresistibly drawn in.

All the mysteries of the world seemed vividly and exquisitely embodied in that instant. What he had never understood before, what he could not grasp, was now completely within his command.

Xu Zhong’s mind was clear, yet the allure of the great Dao was sweet and intoxicating.

Though aware that this was a bait set by the faceless one, he could not resist biting.

He became lost within the Dao, unable to extricate himself, a puppet at others’ whim.

“At that time, how could I possibly have had the right to understand such things?”

The faceless one circled behind Xu Zhong. In their hand, a shovel appeared from thin air.

They shoveled earth again and again, gradually digging a large pit.

Then they shoved Xu Zhong into the pit.

“But I do know one thing,” the faceless one paced around the Rainbow Tree, “This Rainbow Tree cannot be planted by ordinary means. So it requires innate deities.”

They approached the tree, removed their upper garment, placed their right hand firmly on the trunk, and with some effort, uprooted the Rainbow Tree.

The roots pierced their skull, fresh blood dripping.

The faceless one disdainfully knocked off the skull of the innate deity, blood, brain matter, and brain spilled onto the ground, emitting a rancid stench.

After a moment, the remains turned into chunks of mountain stone.

This innate deity had clearly been dead for a long time.

“A tree like this ultimately must be planted by an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao!”

They grinned fiercely, evidently having recognized the Demonic Aspect of the Heavenly Dao within Xu Zhong’s Mud Pellet.

The Rainbow Tree in their hands shrank continually, until small enough to plant atop Xu Zhong’s head.

They cut a slit on Xu Zhong’s crown and planted the Rainbow Tree inside.

The roots wildly extended within Xu Zhong’s body, endlessly devouring every ounce of his inner strength.