"Jie jie jie jie! Regardless of whether the Ancient Clan controls Karma and Fate, even if they don't, we should still slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos and usher in the Daoless Age."
Green Robe Patriarch's sinister, deep voice echoed once more, roaring, "If the Great Dao is unjust, it should be slaughtered!"
Xunfeng Patriarch calmly retorted, "How is the Great Dao unjust?"
"Jie jie jie jie, how is the Great Dao unjust? An excellent question! That is a truly excellent question! Today, this Patriarch will tell you exactly how the Great Dao is unjust!"
Green Robe Patriarch bellowed, "Since all are Great Daos, why does the Heavenly Dao rule over all living beings? Why does the Immortal Dao dominate heaven and earth? Why does your Sage Path stand so loftily above? Why is the Ghost and Monster Path treated like ants? Why is the Human and Spirit Path so lowly? Tell this Patriarch! Why? Is this what you call justice?"
Earlier, when discussing whether the Ancient Clan controlled Karma and Fate, Xunfeng Patriarch had left Green Robe Patriarch speechless and unable to refute. But now, when the topic turned to the word 'justice,' Green Robe Patriarch had rendered Xunfeng Patriarch equally speechless with his furious rebuttal.
Moreover, all beings present—whether it was Tiger Strength Great Immortal, Green Wood Old Immortal, Gu Qingfeng, Da Xing the Mad Monk, or the various Ancestral Patriarchs hidden in the shadows from the grotto-heavens and blessed lands, including Xunfeng Patriarch himself—no matter how unwilling they were in their hearts, they had to admit that what Green Robe Patriarch said was the truth.
It was widely known that among the Three Thousand Great Daos, the Human Dao, Spirit Dao, Ghost Dao, and Monster Path held the lowest status, the most lowly, the least presence. One could even say there was hardly any Human-Spirit Dao or Ghost-Monster Path to speak of.
Across the myriad realms, there were many mortals, but who had truly set foot upon the Human Dao? Yes, there were some, but very, very few—so few they were almost negligible. If mortals wished to survive in this world of the strong preying on the weak, there was only one path to take: cultivate to become immortals.
Such was the Human Dao. The Monster Path was no exception. Across the myriad realms, all manner of monsters were countless, but those who truly entered the Monster Path were exceedingly rare. If monsters wished to survive, they too had only one path: cultivate to become demons.
Most hateful of all was that when the Three Thousand Great Daos first appeared, the Human Dao and Monster Path were not so lowly. At that time, the Three Thousand Great Daos were truly equal. Unfortunately, later, during the Great Dao's struggle for supremacy, certain Daos, to develop themselves, deliberately suppressed the growth of other Daos.
How did the Human Dao decline? Was it not because the Immortal Dao and several other Daos jointly suppressed it? To curb the Human Dao's growth, they even went so far as to extract the soul of the Human Dao's origin, making mortals inherently weak from birth. Even when a few Heaven-Humans later emerged in the Human Dao, they were secretly eliminated by the Immortal Dao.
The Monster Path's situation was similar to the Human Dao's, suppressed by certain Daos, its origin's soul extracted, leaving monsters inherently weak from birth.
As for the Ghost Dao, its status was pitifully low. Most ghosts lacked even consciousness, mere wandering spirits, becoming puppets in the eyes of demons and monsters. Even though the Ghost Dao had a hegemon like Green Lantern Patriarch, it still failed to change the Ghost Dao's plight.
Then there was the Spirit Dao, whose status was even worse than the Human Dao's. Most spirits either became pets for some immortals or served as their mounts.
In contrast, the Immortal Dao was like a god to mortals. If the Immortal Dao willed it, it could casually erase a mortal as easily as crushing an ant.
Then there was the Sage Path. Everyone knew the Sage Path was hailed as the Supreme Great Dao, with the saying, 'If you wish to become a god, first enter the Sage Path.' To mortals, the Immortal Dao was god. To the Immortal Dao, the Sage Path was god.
"Jie jie jie jie! Xunfeng, didn't you ask this Patriarch how the Great Dao is unjust? This is the Great Dao's injustice! Since it is unjust, it must be slaughtered!"
Green Robe Patriarch laughed triumphantly, seizing the opportunity to roar again, "Xunfeng, don't think this Patriarch doesn't know why you cling to the Great Dao. You have already entered the Sage Path and cultivated to the Half-Saint realm. Becoming a full Sage is only a matter of time. As long as the Great Dao remains unextinguished, your existence as a Half-Saint will forever remain lofty, towering above the Great Dao, looking down upon all living beings. You are afraid! Afraid the Great Dao will be extinguished, even more afraid the Daoless Age will begin! Because once the Daoless Age begins, your so-called Half-Saint status will lose all sense of superiority, and you will no longer be able to stand so high above!"
"Esteemed ones! You are all Ancestral Patriarchs from various grotto-heavens and blessed lands. Perhaps some of you are in the Immortal Dao, some in the Monster Dao, some in the Monster Path, and some in the Ghost Dao. But I imagine most of you were not born immortals, nor born demons. You cultivated step by step through arduous effort to reach where you are today. The hardships and bitterness involved—I need not say, you all deeply understand. Have you ever wondered, why is this so? If the Great Dao were truly equal, why would we have to abandon the Dao we were born with and tread upon a Dao that was never originally ours?"
"The reason is simple: it's all because certain Daos interfered, suppressing our Daos, extracting the souls of our Daos' origins, forcing us to enter their Daos instead."
"You have cultivated to your current level now, but have you considered that your children, your children's children, your descendants, will all have to repeat the path you once walked?"
"Among you, perhaps some were born immortals, some born demons, inherently superior from birth. But do not forget that above you, there is still the Sage Path, and above that, the Heavenly Dao. Before the Human Dao, your Immortal Dao stands loftily above. But before the Sage Path, your Immortal Dao is worth less than dog shit! You view the Human Dao as ants, and the Sage Path views you as ants. Your Immortal and Monster Daos suppress the Human Dao and Monster Path, and the Sage Path can suppress your Immortal and Monster Daos. 'Beneath the Heavenly Dao, all are ants; beneath the Sage Path, all are worthless grass.' Have you not heard this saying? If the Great Dao remains unextinguished, the current plight of the Human Dao and Monster Path will be the future plight of your Immortal and Monster Daos!"
"Only by slaughtering the Great Dao will all living beings be equal! Only by slaughtering the Great Dao will all living beings be free from the shackles of Karma! Only by slaughtering the Great Dao will all living beings truly master their own fate! Only by slaughtering the Great Dao can we usher in the Daoless Age!"
Green Robe Patriarch roared madly, his voice deafening, exploding and reverberating endlessly through the Li Palace Void, its might astonishing, its intensity overwhelming.
"This Green Robe Patriarch is truly a damned prodigy!" Hidden in the shadows, Gu Qingfeng praised Green Robe Patriarch endlessly. Setting aside for now what medicine Green Robe Patriarch was really selling in his gourd, whether all this was a trap he laid or a pit he dug, his words alone were truly reasonable and well-supported, delivered with both logic and emotion. After hearing them, one couldn't help but nod in agreement, feeling an impulse within—an impulse to slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos. Even someone like Gu Qingfeng, who had no interest in slaughtering the Three Thousand Great Daos, felt stirred by Green Robe Patriarch's words to want to slaughter them.
Beside him, Da Xing the Mad Monk also nodded, greatly in agreement, saying, "This old monk finally understands now why Green Robe Patriarch was able to fool the Venerable of the Daoless Age back in the day, and why this old fellow later managed to incite the Three Thousand Great Daos to exterminate the Venerable of the Daoless Age. That mouth of his is truly no ordinary thing! He's even incited this damned old monk to want to slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos."