Chapter 4836: Heart of the Great Dao
This time, Lin Moyu still set up the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation, only far stronger than before.
Once the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation rose, it could break all techniques and slay all life.
The Dao heart served as the foundation of the formation, which did not rely on the power of Primal Chaos or heaven and earth—its might came only from himself.
"The formation rises; all living beings feel it."
The Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation activated, locking onto the Primordial Savage Fiend.
A vast power, like a gigantic hand, pinned the fiend in place.
Hurricane‑winds howled and swept around it, countless blades falling upon its body and slicing open innumerable wounds.
Thick scales and feathers were shredded and scattered, ground to dust in the wind.
The fiend shrieked in panic.
"Impossible.
"How can you set up this formation?
"How is it the same as his?"
"The same as him?"
Lin Moyu's mind spun rapidly, as if catching hold of something.
The Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation was something he had comprehended himself, yet thinking back, it felt like it had long existed in the depths of his soul and appeared the very moment he thought of it.
The feeling was strange and hard to describe.
With a thought, he slightly weakened the array.
"The 'him' you mentioned—who is that?"
The fiend's voice sank.
"He is…"
Suddenly, the creature's body curled in on itself, and a vertical eye appeared on its head.
A streak of pitch‑black light shot from that eye.
The black light pierced the formation and raced toward Lin Moyu.
Unhurried, he caused another array to form in front of him.
The formation transformed into a shield guarding him as the protective light of his Dao heart blazed forth, becoming a second layer of defense.
The black light crashed into the formation‑shield and scattered into a spray of multicolored radiance, failing to penetrate and fading away.
Lin Moyu, watching the changes in the creature's soul, had already sensed it would strike and arranged his defenses in advance.
"A dying struggle—pointless."
"Since you do not wish to speak, then do not."
The Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation surged to full power.
Winds ripped flesh and shattered bone; black blood filled the array as the fiend's body and soul were ground to nothing.
The fiend screamed again and again.
"I will talk, I will talk—do not kill me."
Lin Moyu did not weaken the array.
"Speak."
"He is called the Nine Heavens Divine Lord."
Lin Moyu continued, "And?"
The fiend shrieked, "I know nothing else.
"All I know is that he is the Nine Heavens Divine Lord."
From the fluctuations in its soul, Lin Moyu could tell it was not lying.
"So it truly knows little.
"As the first fiend I encountered, its level must be the lowest."
"Fine.
"This answer will have to be found by me.
"Nine Heavens Divine Lord, Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation…they do match, and the name does feel familiar."
With a thought, he pushed the formation to its limit.
The winds devoured the remnants, and the Primordial Savage Fiend was erased in an instant.
He had only asked it to answer—not promised to spare it.
A thing like this left alive was a disaster waiting to happen.
From the moment he saw the fiend, killing intent had already risen in his heart.
A boundless loathing surged up from his very core.
He knew clearly that between himself and the Primordial Savage Fiend, there was only life or death—no other possibility.
Once the fiend died, the space of the divine hall returned to normal.
A pillar of light fell from above and bathed Lin Moyu.
He felt his body and soul rise yet again.
"So there is a reward."
Killing a fiend brought a reward; failing meant death.
At the same time, he realized that the halls to come would likely follow the same pattern.
The fiends he would face would only grow stronger, and their numbers might increase.
This kind of pattern had appeared many times in lesser and greater worlds alike, either as a way to choose an inheritor or to test disciples of a sect or power.
Yet somehow, the Nine Heavens Divine Lord did not feel like someone who would play such childish games.
"He probably is not that bored.
"Then again, who can say?
"When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams tilt as well.
"Perhaps this very method began with him."
So thinking, Lin Moyu left the hall, stepped onto the divine road, and headed for the next one.
The twenty‑second divine hall was the same as before, its interior sealed around a Primordial Savage Fiend of the same species and appearance as the first one, though slightly stronger.
Too lazy to waste words, Lin Moyu immediately deployed the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation and slaughtered it.
The most frightening thing was always the unknown.
Once he understood it, he could find the solution.
Before the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation, these fiends had no real power to resist.
Killing them was effortless; in less than a day, he cleared three halls in a row, even faster than before.
Still, he did not grow complacent.
"With each hall, the fiends grow stronger.
"While the current Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation is enough, that may not hold true later."
"The divine road and divine halls change every ten halls.
"By the thirty‑first hall, this version of the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation may no longer suffice."
"No, it is not that the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation itself is lacking, but that my version of it is lacking."
"There is no need to devise a new formation; I only have to strengthen this one.
"And the foundation of the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation is me."
"The Formation Dao has already reached perfection.
"What remains is my Dao heart.
"This array is rooted in the Dao heart—if the Dao heart grows stronger, the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation will naturally grow stronger as well."
"Cultivation is easy, the divine soul is hard; above both lies the Dao heart, hardest of all."
"My Dao heart has reached a perfect state.
"Perfection means no flaws, but it does not mean it cannot be further strengthened."
"It is like a piece of iron—what if it were turned into steel?"
He knew a qualitative change was needed.
The key problem was how to make the Dao heart undergo that transformation.
"Dao heart, Dao heart—the heart of the Great Dao, the heart of seeking the Dao."
"My heart of seeking the Dao is already firm beyond compare, unmatched in all worlds—so what exactly am I missing, that would allow a qualitative change?"
As he walked the divine road and passed the halls, the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation swept all before it while he constantly questioned himself—yet no answer came.
Unknowingly, he arrived before the thirty‑first divine hall.
"As expected, just as I thought—the thirty‑first divine hall has changed again."
The hall was still wrapped in a sealing formation, yet far stronger than the previous ones—several times stronger at the very least.
A stronger seal meant a stronger fiend inside.
After ten previous halls of experience, Lin Moyu understood this formation thoroughly and could replicate it exactly if needed.
He pressed his hand onto the seal.
Dao‑heart light flowed around him as protective radiance.
Without entering the hall, he could clearly see everything inside.
A fiend was sealed there, but unlike the earlier ones, its form had changed.
This Primordial Savage Fiend no longer resembled an eagle, but rather a lion‑tiger‑like beast; though sealed, the aura it released was several times stronger.
"It has indeed grown stronger.
"If the Nine Heavens Slaughter Formation had not grown with it, it might not be enough to handle this one."
"It seems the time to go in has not yet come."
He withdrew his hand, backed away some distance, and sat cross‑legged before the hall as though entering seclusion, focusing entirely on his Dao heart.
He was confident that his heart of seeking the Dao was already at the peak, unshakable.
To transform the Dao heart further, he would have to seek the heart of the Great Dao itself.
The heart of the Great Dao was not the so‑called "Great Dao" formed by the rules of this heaven and earth—those Daos were inferior even to rules.
They were not what he pursued.