The True Martial Primordial Edict and the Heavenly Dao Primordial Edict, these were simply names the two men themselves had chosen. In the world, no such edicts officially existed under those titles.

After an Infinite Dao cultivator gathered the Three Blossoms, they not only comprehended edicts…

they could also merge them.

Different edict fusions produced different powers, and every cultivator would ultimately merge their own set of edicts to walk their own unique path.

The True Martial Progenitor walked the path of the True Martial. The Holy Progenitor walked the path of the Heavenly Dao.

According to legend, the Holy Progenitor was the strongest existence under the Heavenly Dao,

the Heavenly Dao’s spokesperson.

The Holy Progenitor and the Heavenly Court existed for one purpose. To eliminate anyone who dared attempt to defy the heavens or threaten the Heavenly Dao.

Just like the Infernal Lord of old.

Just like the True Martial Sacred Ground now.

Those who sought to slay the heavens were the Heavenly Court’s enemies.

…

When the two equally mighty edicts collided, the Heavenly Dao Primordial Edict appeared to have the upper hand.

The primordial giant shattered, and the withered leaf continued forward, slicing toward the True Martial Progenitor.

“Not enough.”

The True Martial Progenitor let out a cold snort.

The snort carried a trace of Dao resonance, and the leaf disintegrated in the sound wave.

“True Martial, you still lack ability,” the Holy Progenitor said evenly.

A horsetail whisk appeared in his hand, no one had seen when he retrieved it.

The tufted end was made of beast hair, but each strand represented a divine beast.

When the Holy Progenitor flicked the whisk using the Heavenly Dao Primordial Edict, the beasts seemed to come alive.

A scarlet-eyed qilin soared above the heavens, its crimson gaze illuminating eternity. A Leviathan tore through the void, its colossal body shedding ripples of space-time. A Nine-Infant beast, with nine heads each representing a life, exuded murderous aura that blanketed half the sky. An ancient earth-dragon streaked across the firmament, its scales gleaming with dying twilight. A Hellfire phoenix, its flames rising and falling, swung claws sharp enough to tear the heavens and burn the eight desolations.

Every god beast symbolized by the whisk’s strands seemed revived and charged at the True Martial Progenitor.

The sky became a stampede of ten billion beasts. Dragon roars and tiger cries shook the world. Phoenix shrieks echoed like blades. Beastly howls filled the heavens, their force swallowing the void.

After flattening everything in their path, the stampede surged toward the True Martial Progenitor with unstoppable momentum.

His eyes blazed like torches.

He opened his arms wide, as if embracing heaven and earth themselves, majestic and immovable.

He made no attempt to defend. He simply opened his stance and allowed the beasts to strike him.

With a thunderous boom, the Nine-Infant ripped through his body, even passing through his head, roaring as it continued forward.

But something strange occurred, as it passed through him, it was as if the beast existed in a different time-space.

It couldn’t touch him.

The entire stampede crashed through him, yet not a single beast inflicted harm.

“What is this?” a Saint asked in confusion.

The Infinite Dao cultivators, however, grew solemn.

“One of the Three Selves, the Future Self.”

“What is a Future Self?” Many Saints looked blank.

“Not every Infinite Dao cultivator has one,” said Saint Sovereign San Dao of the True Martial Sacred Ground.

“Any Infinite Dao who submits to the heavens, like the Crimson-Hell War God, whose true fate is branded by the Heavenly Dao, they can never cultivate past or future selves. Their past and future are controlled by the Heavenly Dao.”

He continued, “But people like us, like the True Martial Progenitor, can cultivate past and future selves.”

“What’s the use?” Xu Zimo asked.

“A great deal. The higher you cultivate, the more you resist the Heavenly Dao’s control and transcend life and death. To cultivate Past and Future Selves…”

Saint Sovereign San Dao paused, then continued.

“During the last battle between the True Martial Sacred Ground and the Ten God-Clans, the True Martial Progenitor ‘died.’ But the one who died was merely his Past Self.”

The Saints were stunned.

One of them asked, “Why kill the Past Self?”

“That’s easy to understand,” Saint Sovereign San Dao replied.

“Up to that point, everything about your past developed within the Nine Heavens. No matter how you avoid it, your entire past is tied to the Heavenly Dao. By killing the Past Self, you sever your only connection to the Nine Heavens’ Heavenly Dao. Then you can walk your own path and transcend it.”

The crowd finally understood.

A person’s entire life originated in the Nine Heavens, their every experience stamped unconsciously by the Heavenly Dao.

The only way to break free was to kill the Past Self and rely solely on the Present Self and Future Self to forge an ultimate Infinite Dao.

This realm was called the Slaying of Three Selves, Past, Present, and Future.

Meaning that the True Martial Progenitor had not only gathered the Three Blossoms,

he had also split the Three Selves.

Everyone was shocked.

“How is this possible? During the great battle back then, the True Martial Progenitor had just stepped into the Dao Fruit stage. How could he have progressed this fast?”

The Eight God-Clans were shaken.

Gathering the Three Blossoms was already terrifying.

Splitting the Three Selves as well? Unthinkable.

The old ancestors of the families finally understood why the Nanguo and Zhao God-Clans had betrayed them, they had known something.

They believed the True Martial Progenitor would win, so they defected without hesitation.

The so-called alliance of the Ten God-Clans crumbled instantly in the face of survival.

And they weren’t wrong.

If the Holy Progenitor hadn’t descended, even with all of them united, they still wouldn’t have been the True Martial Progenitor’s match.

Everyone felt a chill.

Thank the heavens the Holy Progenitor arrived, or the consequences would have been catastrophic.

Seeing that the True Martial Progenitor had slain his Past Self and split the Three Selves, the Holy Progenitor’s expression grew heavy.

“Heaven-Slayers never let anyone rest easy,” he said with a sharp snort.

At that moment, the True Martial Progenitor’s power surged through the heavens as though he would pierce the sky itself.

Someone suddenly paled and asked:

“Then the True Martial Progenitor in front of us, is he complete?”

“No. This is only his Present Self. His Future Self has not yet fused.”

“If he fuses with his Future Self, that would be his strongest state.”

“Then where is the Progenitor’s Future Self?”

“Xiao An’an...” Xu Zimo said slowly.

By now, he had pieced together most of the truth.

He had long suspected Xiao An’an was not ordinary.

Xiao An’an possessed the True Martial Sword Physique and could wield the True Martial Sword.

Impossible for anyone else.

Xu Zimo had guessed she might be the True Martial Progenitor’s reincarnation.

He never expected, she was his Future Self.