399 Step of Dao Corroboration

From the start of the fight until now, there were several methods that Yaan could have used to fully extinguish all of Death Empyrean's remaining life-force. However, doing so before determining what would happen after that life was extinguished, would just be an act of idiocy.

To begin with, there was an obvious problem with 'killing death'. Even Yaan had returned from death before, he had experienced death in various forms, multiple times. Since even he could survive death, then it was very likely that Death Empyrean could do likewise.

In fact, Yaan was certain that Death Empyrean would survive, even with his life-force extinguished. The only question was…what would happen next?

Would he immediately complete his Origin Ascension and leave this Era? Would he become stronger for a period of time, too strong for Yaan to deal with? Would he linger in this Era but without that level of strength, giving Yaan the opportunity to truly end his life?

Actually, Yaan wasn't entirely against helping Death Empyrean to transcend the Origin; watching another Origin Ascension would certainly be beneficial for him. However, he wasn't sure if doing so would result in his own death, and he wasn't about to become his enemy's stepping stone.

However, doing nothing also wasn't an option, because if he did nothing, that remaining flicker of life wouldn't be extinguished any time soon.

Suddenly, Death Empyrean's deathly chains of karma shot towards him, creating a storm of dozens of giant black tendrils, impossible to completely evade. His only choice was to fight back, to block, or to counter…

Either way, whenever Yaan attacked, his opponent's flicker of life would dwindle further, and the aura of death would grow stronger.

Yaan still hadn't figured it out, just what Death Empyrean was hoping to achieve - or rather, what he was already achieving, and how he was doing it. Clearly, those deathly karmic chains had the effect of devouring Life Essence. Since Yaan had no Life Essence, he was simply injured by the attacks, and nothing was devoured…

Since that was the case, how was it that Death Empyrean's aura of death continued to grow as the deathly power collided with his body and he blocked with the wooden sword? This much death aura couldn't form merely from extinguishing the flicker of life in his eye socket, so where was this power coming from?

As Yaan's dao body fought, his cultivation body had long since sank into contemplation over the fight. They had separated, but his two bodies shared a mental connection, so he could use his cultivation base body's Sea of Consciousness to rapidly deduce while his dao body fought.

Finally, just as Yaan was considering attacking Death Empyrean with an all out strike to create some sort of opening, he understood!

'This guy isn't generating more death aura at all, he's comprehending dao, allowing him to release his own death aura from some sort of seal within himself! He must have cultivated this death aura in the 1st Origin Era, but he can't access this power under the different world laws in the 2nd Origin Era…until now. He isn't just seeking out his Origin Ascension, he's undergoing it right now! Is he holding back the process so that he can comprehend death from our fight? The more he comprehends death from me, a resident of this Era, the more he can release his death aura…'

Yaan narrowed his eyes when he realised something else.

Death Empyrean wasn't just comprehending death, he was also comprehending life…

And illusions.

Indeed, he was comprehending death via his developing understanding of Yaan's life, which was itself an illusion. The more he understood the illusion, the more he understood 'illusory life', and the more he understood 'illusory death'.

Like this, he was almost stealing Yaan's signature move of dictating reality with illusions. He was over-riding the truth of this world, that his death aura cultivated in the 1st Origin Era could not coexist under the 2nd Origin Era's laws, thus granting him more and more access to his past power with every single exchange of moves!

The more Yaan fought, the more he proved his illusory existence and the more he showed Death Empyrean of his abilities, the more powerful that aura of death would become. 

'Could it be that to complete his Origin Ascension, Death Empyrean needs to completely re-gain his cultivated death from the 1st Origin Era? I see now! It's not that he's deliberately slowing his ascension, it's just extremely slow! This is very different compared to how the God of Sin ascended; an ongoing ascension that progresses the more he comprehends, but likewise, the ascension will regress if his momentum grinds to a halt. Could it be…that's why he spent the last million years in a state of pseudo-death?'

When Yaan realised the implication behind this, he felt completely shocked.

'This guy…has been undergoing his Origin Ascension for the past million years…or perhaps, even longer…?'

Yaan's eyes shone with a strange golden light as a certain dao that he comprehended in the Boundless Dao Library resurfaced within his gaze.

Suddenly and without warning, Death Empyrean stopped attacking. The faint flicker of white in his eye seemed to freeze, before violently shaking. Without a word, Death Empyrean surged forth with all his might towards Yaan, attacking with wild abandon and holding nothing back. It seemed that he had recognised something in Yaan's gaze.

As the storm of death approached and he felt the threat of his own death once again, a strange thought lingered on Yaan's mind.

'The Dao of Origin is truly a grand dao…'

Without any further hesitation, Yaan took a step forwards, piercing through the storm of death as crimson flames erupted around him. The red flames started from his sword, but exploded around his body, turning his hair crimson and his eyes the colour of boundless blood.

Death chain after chain chain was vaporised by his blazing killing intent, causing the flicker of white light in Death Empyrean's eye to flicker even more violently than before, until…

Yaan broke through the forest of deathly chains, and once again, his wooden sword tip pierced into Death Empyrean's skull. Bloody flames of killing intent exploded from the end of his sword, burning to ash the remaining life-force within the black skull.

Instantly, the world turned black. This blackness was so dark that even space could not be seen beyond it; this was the darkness of death, a darkness that Yaan felt somewhat familiar…

But it wasn't the same. This was not the same death that he had felt back then.

So Death Empyrean wasn't the entity of death from back then, huh…

BANG!

The moment after he executed the 1st Step of the Agile Illusion Art to extinguish Death Empyrean's life-force, Yaan countered the sudden appearance of this domain of death with the sword art's 2nd Step.

The black world that was darker than darkness itself was torn away, replaced by a world of crimson fire. However, Yaan wasn't finished…

He took a third step, causing the crimson flames to fill the sky of his Absolute Domain.

On the earth below, A black skull was concealed within a cocoon of deathly karmic chains. The chains each glowed with Divine Runes, flashing with black light and flooding the sky with darkness.

But the sky above fought back; clouds of crimson flame surged into a storm, raining down hellfire onto the deathly lands below. Within the storm, a small figure in a silk red robe trod down with one foot. He grasped a wooden sword in his two hands, and he cut through the illusion of the cocoon that was reflected in the sky.

WHOOSH!

The crimson flames exploded in every direction, swept away by the force of the collision of the illusory sword with the illusory skull.

The painted world and the blazing killing intent vanished, as did the world of death below, and the cocoon around the black skull.

Finally, Death Empyrean was exposed, revealed in his life-less form.

"Peugh!"

Yaan coughed up a mouthful of crimson flames, before his face paled and his body suddenly exploded. He rapidly reformed his body, then quickly released his domain once again, but only by enough to cover himself.

Before his body could explode again due to the backlash of failing to completely kill Death Empyrean with the 3rd Step - the Step of Death - Yaan used a form of 'Define Truth' within his small bubble of domain.

His body was like a painting, a painting which was crumbling to pieces. Before the painting could fall apart, Yaan quickly erased the image of himself, as he simultaneously re-painted a new body for himself.

For a brief moment, he had stabilised his situation, but he was resolving the backlash from one method, with another method that would carry an even greater backlash.

However, he didn't care about that right now. From the beginning, Yaan had expected Death Empyrean to grow stronger after he became life-less, but he extinguished that life regardless. There was a chance that Death Empyrean would immediately transcend the Origin, but Yaan wouldn't rely on this sole possible outcome.

And indeed, just killing death was not enough.

He extinguished life with the 1st Step.

He countered the Death Domain with the 2nd Step.

He destroyed the cocoon of death that Death Empyrean was using to complete some sort of metamorphosis - this was his 3rd Step.

But the battle wasn't over.

Or rather…Yaan would not allow the battle to end like this.

He didn't enter this fight to act as a stepping stone for Death Empyrean to ascend. He wasn't fighting because he cared about disrupting Death Empyrean from ascending either…

So, why was he fighting?

Actually…what was the point of fighting at all?

After reaching the Divine Step, Yaan could easily find a place to hide and enter secluded cultivation, comprehending dao until the end of the Origin Era. With his abilities, hiding himself would be simplicity itself, he could enter seclusion for thousands of years undisturbed, and rely on his talent in dao comprehension to progress.

But that had never been his style.

His path was the demonic path, his path was one of battle, struggle and blood. He fought because this was how he had learned to live, how to cultivate, and how to seek dao.

This battle would not be won by simply surviving, nor by killing his opponent. This battle would be won, by taking another step along his path.

And so, Yaan took another step along his path…

He took his 4th Step, and he created…the 4th Step of the Agile Illusion Art!

To take this 4th Step, Yaan fused another art into this step; his Sword Heart Art!

Yaan's Sword Heart Art was his 'general sword art', the art he used for his general sword play, and the foundation of his overall combat system.

Meanwhile, his Agile Illusion Art was a specific sword art, meaning it was split into stages, wherein each stage was its own specialised powerful move.

However, as he took his 4th Step, Yaan came to the realisation that if he wanted to further progress his Agile Illusion Art, the only way was to build the next move upon the foundation of his general sword art. To Yaan, his Sword Heart Art was not just a combat system, but a way of swordplay that allowed him to fight with his heart and sword as one. 

To complete the 4th Step of his Agile Illusion Art, his heart and sword must become one!

The black skull that was the 'life-less' Death Empyrean sat millions of miles below Yaan. It was just a black human-sized skull, completely lacking life…but it was not ordinary in the least.

His Death Domain had been countered, his cocoon of death had been split in half, and yet, Death Empyrean's boney black teeth contorted into a crazed smile. He stared up, watching the golden wooden sword descend through the world, cutting through his aura of Partial-Origin Ascension…

And killing him even more thoroughly than before.

Yaan didn't know what exactly Death Empyrean's end-game was for his ascension, or when he planned to actually ascend, whether it was several moves ago, or right now…

But it didn't matter.

Whether he had been hoping for Yaan to achieve this level of success, or whether he had been hoping for Yaan to fail…

It didn't matter.

Yaan didn't care about his opponent's aims, only his own. 

Agile Illusion Art, 4th Step - the Step of Dao Corroboration!

Each step of Yaan's Agile Illusion Art was very different, but each consecutive step seemed to become countless times more complex and profound than the last.

From a simple strike, to an impossible counter, to a painting of his opponent's death which staked the backlash on his success…

And now, dao corroboration!

In the Boundless Dao Library, Yaan had learned that in the 1st Origin Era, all powerful beings needed to go through a 'trial of dao corroboration', wherein they proved their dao via some unknown tribulation. All he really knew about this trial, was the fact that supposedly, his trial was the Paradox of Fate.

But he didn't need to understand the trial, just the idea of 'Dao Corroboration' - meaning, proving his dao. Yaan was using that very concept of Dao Corroboration, but he was applying it to his sword art!

This was a move that could only be used in certain situations, at times when he felt the need to prove his dao…by taking his opponent's dao!

Yaan had walked his path of cultivation by killing, stealing and devouring from other cultivators, so why stop now? Why could he not kill, steal and devour dao from another cultivator too?!

If the 3rd Step could be considered 'risky', then this 4th Step was simply insanity.

This was Death Empyrean's thought as the golden blade cut through space, cut through death, cut through his ongoing Partial-Origin Ascension, and finally, cut through him.

There was no sound, but a giant golden spatial tear was forcefully imprinted upon the world behind Yaan, along the path that his sword sliced…

At the beginning of the spatial tear, Yaan could be seen, holding the wooden sword above his head, glowing with gold, and staring down with a piercing gaze. Halfway through this spatial tear, the black skull had been cut in half. At the end of the spatial tear, Yaan could be seen again, standing with his back to the past, holding the wooden sword by his side, completely relaxed and emanating no ripples of power.

The beginning, middle and end of the strike, of his Dao Corroboration, could all be seen at the same time.

Yaan turned around calmly, facing Death Empyrean's true form.

The moment he turned around, the aura of Origin Ascension descended upon the world; the true Origin Ascension, complete, and suppressive. As soon as that pressure arose, Yaan was frozen in place, unable to so much as blink.

Death Empyrean was a young man with hair so long that it reached his knees. His black robe fluttered gently in front of the power of the golden spatial tear - shockingly, even under the pressure of the Origin Ascension, the golden tear remained in place, unmoving and seemingly permanent.

"You killed me in the midst of my Origin Ascension, using a sword art imbued with the Dao of Origin. As expected of you, World Demon, hahaha…"

Yaan stared, watching as Death Empyrean's amused gaze gradually faded away, as his body transcended past the limits of the Origin, and his death aura was rapidly released from its seal.

A profound pressure enveloped the world, forcing all manner of life to freeze. In this moment, whether they could actually see him or not, all eyes were forcefully fixated onto Death Empyrean and his Origin Ascension.

It seemed that…Death Empyrean successfully transcended the Origin…

Just like that, Death Empyrean's dao had taken a step further, using Yaan's dao as his stepping stone.

Just like that, Yaan's dao had taken a step further, using Death Empyrean's dao as his stepping stone.

After Death Empyrean vanished, so did the pressure of the Origin Ascension. The world continued moving once again.

Yaan glanced back at the giant golden spatial tear behind him. It was enormous, yet completely stable and unmoving, unlike any other normal spatial tear.

"It seems that we both achieved our goals in this fight."

Yaan smiled and shook his head. He turned away from the golden spatial tear and started flying in the opposite direction, but abruptly, he turned back towards the spatial tear and narrowed his eyes. The wooden sword was in his hand and he was ready to fight, if need be.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Yaan asked sharply.

Between himself and the golden spatial tear, an old man dressed in a pale blue robe had appeared from seemingly nowhere, with no prior warning. For some unknown reason, his body looked extremely unstable, as if he was not meant to be here in this world, and might vanish at any given moment.

The old man looked back at Yaan and smiled with a trace of softness in his eyes.

"I'm just a passing prophet. That said…you should run."