Nexus Grandmaster

Prologue

A silent tremor shook the foundation of Xiantu World as the green-eyed Immortal in black robes landed on the planet.

With one step, he completely neutralized the resistance of the Heavenly Will of the small world. By the second step, his Dao Fruit had already taken its place, temporarily acting as a replacement Overseer. Simultaneously, a heavy sensation of impending calamity gripped the minds of the native residents.

"He has stabilized his new cultivation base to this extent already?" On a remote, nondescript island somewhere on the planet, Immortal Xuan Qing clenched his fists tightly as he gazed thoughtfully at the familiar cultivator whose figure was clearly reflected in the sky.

Having condensed a Grand Dao Fruit and become a Grand Primordium Immortal, the black-robed cultivator, Jia Ping, was on a whole different level compared to common Immortals, especially having stabilized his new realm. As Immortal Xuan Qing was only at the peak of the Grand Immortal Realm himself, he understood that he was destined to lose in a confrontation with the former.

Meanwhile, Grand Primordium Immortal Jia Ping's Divine Sense swept across the planet in a split millisecond, carefully skimming through the memories of the sentient lifeforms on it. He knew firsthand that his Master's primary Dao had a notorious countering effect to divinations, and this was why he was resorting to this crude method to dig out his traces instead.

"Haha, found you!" A cold, victorious glint flashed in Jia Ping's eyes when he finally discovered a critical clue in the memories of an aquatic lifeform.

Almost immediately, Immortal Xuan Qing felt an intangible Divine Sense descend on him. Through the sky screen, he saw Jia Ping make a grasping motion with his hands, and the next instant, Xuan Qing found himself in front of the former.

His body tensed as he strained to break free, but Jia Ping was already on guard and locked him in place firmly.

"Long time no see, Master," Jia Ping said coldly.

Since he was totally locked down by the aura and unable to move an inch, Immortal Xuan Qing could only glare fiercely at his disciple. If looks could kill, Jia Ping would have died a billion times over.

"Any last words?" Jia Ping was clearly enjoying the moment and even released his aura lock a bit so Immortal Xuan Qing could speak.

"Unfilial bastard!" were the first words he spat out. His fury was palpable as he continued, "Taking you in as my third disciple is without doubt the worst mistake I've made in life."

Grand Primordium Jia Ping's eyes dimmed in mock solemness at these words, "You know, you only have yourself to blame, Master. If you hadn't accidentally revealed to me back then the grand path you were deducing and planning to leave to a future successor to cultivate, I wouldn't have developed an intense urge to take it for myself."

Immortal Xuan Qing found his words extremely infuriating and involuntarily closed his eyes as if to calm himself. A hint of regret arose in his heart as he felt for the first time the cursed helplessness of powerlessness.

All these centuries, he neglected his own cultivation just to focus exclusively on researching the extremities of different pathways. As a matter of fact, the three disciples he took in majored in one of the three paths he successfully deduced to the Grand Dao Fruit Realm each.

The Path of Body.

The Soul Path.

And finally, the Path of Spirit, also known as the Qi Path.

Immortal Xuan Qing was only lacking a final trigger to integrate these paths into one and finally perfect a unique cultivation method of his own creation, the Tri-Essence Grand Extremity Path Art. By his estimations, this process should only take a few centuries more at most, but his absolute deductive ability clearly did not take factors like his scheming disciple into account, resulting in the current situation.

But it wasn't over yet. Immortal Xuan Qing's eyes flashed open with ruthless resolution and he suddenly shattered his cultivation base decisively. The energy that erupted from his dantian as a result instantly negated the restriction on his body.

"What are you doing?" Jia Ping's expression changed abruptly. It only took him a second to realize what was going on. "You're igniting your potential to force a breakthrough?" Shattering one's cultivation foundation and drawing in the primal energies between Heaven and Earth to forge the Dao Fruit was an alternative but unorthodox method of breaking through to the Grand Primordium Immortal Realm from the Grand Immortal Realm. The orthodox method was more mainstream as it happened smoothly and automatically once one's accumulation was enough, unlike the induced method which was a huge gamble and basically only had a success rate of 8%.

Jia Ping did not dare underestimate his Master though. The man had a history of subverting expectations and turning the rotten to a miracle.

"Taiji Dao Fruit, materialize!" Immortal Xuan Qing's demeanour was dignified as his voice boomed all over the planet.

An atavistic fruit the size of an apple suddenly appeared in front of him, slowly condensing into a more solid form. At the same time, tribulation clouds started to gather overhead.

"As expected of Master, even a wild gamble like this worked in your favour. But you've forgotten something critical–you have to undergo your tribulation first to become a true Grand Primordium Immortal," Jia Ping's lips curled into an evil smile, "Do you really think I'll allow that happen in my presence?"

Without warning, an atavistic blade suddenly materialized in his hand, and with it, he ruthlessly slashed at the tribulation clouds in the sky to cleave it to bits.

[Infinite Annihilation]

Under the brilliance of the blade, space and time seemed to come to a standstill and the world lost all colour. The lightning energy in the tribulation clouds up in the sky were negated down to the microscopic level and the sky became clear again.

However, Immortal Xuan Qing's aura abruptly waned and he spat out mouthfuls of blood right after. Clearly, this was the backlash effect of the external interference in his tribulation.

As the culprit, Jia Ping also felt the weight of a backlash descend on him, but he was able to use the Heavenly Will he was accommodating to deflect most of it. His eyes darkened however when he realized that Immortal Xuan Qing had somehow managed to retain a sliver of his cultivation even after his tribulation was destroyed.

"That's not right," Jia Ping's eyes shone brightly as he activated an ocular spell. "You used a secret method to seal the last trace of your Dao Fruit before it could dissipate from your failed breakthrough."

"A very temporary countermeasure, but enough to unleash one attack at the level of a true Grand Primordium Immortal," Immortal Xuan Qing spoke majestically. "Tell me, if I stake all my cards, do you think I can take you down with me?"

Jia Ping snorted, "Surely you jest, Master. You're already half a foot into your gra–"

He was still speaking when his blade abruptly appeared out of nowhere and slashed at Immortal Xuan Qing.

Being his disciple, Jia Ping was clearer than anybody else about his Immortal Master Xuan Qing's ability. As an existence that managed to deduce three extremity paths to completion and cultivate three disciples that entered the Grand Primordium Realm with them, it was a big mistake to underestimate him. Thus, Jia Ping felt slightly uneasy at Immortal Xuan Qing's posturing and decided to play safe, resorting for a swift, stealthy kill.

Immortal Xuan Qing smiled as if he had anticipated his disciple's action all along. He suddenly made a series of hand seals.

[Reverse Taiji]

[Ultimate Yin-Yang Supremacy]

[Infinite Omnipresence]

With these three secret methods activated, Immortal Xuan Qing's aura rose to the peak and seemed to merge completely with the surrounding void. The next second, his body shimmered and he vanished.

"He escaped? So that was a feint!" Jia Ping's eyes coldly when he realized he had been played. He quickly activated a special ocular method Immortal Master Xuan Qing had personally taught him many years ago.

[Singularity Trace Pupil]

Jia Ping's gaze overlapped with the Heavenly Will at that moment and the entire Xiantu World became an open book he could read. In this state, he quickly eliminated all the false traces and discovered Immortal Master Xuan Qing hiding deep within the spatial layers around the planet.

"Found you. Again."

With a single punch, he forced Immortal Master Xuan Qing out of hiding.

Without warning, a bright orb containing information about an incomplete Tri-Essence Grand Extremity Path Art suddenly flew out of the latter's body and into Jia Ping's hands. Jia Ping was surprised, but he could sense that it was the real deal and became slightly distracted. Meanwhile, Immortal Xuan Qing took that brief window of opportunity to tear open a gap in space and throw something into the void. Jia Ping became attentive immediately.

"What was that?" He asked. Immortal Xuan Qing's action had been too fast and sneaky, leaving no traces behind at all.

Immortal Xuan Qing smiled sadly and said, "In this life, my one wish was to become a Master and produce prodigy disciples. I did just that and produced three, all at the level of Grand Primordium Immortal.

But it seems my lineage is plagued with bad luck. Of the three of you, one is presently in Limbo, the second's whereabouts is unknown and the last is you, an unfilial bastard. I have no regrets though."

Jia Ping did not care about Immortal Master Xuan Qing's words at all. His demeanor was apprehensive as he repeated his question, "Master, what did you do?" At the same time, he was actively casting multiple techniques to deduce what it was.

"Haha, you can activate as many tracking spells and techniques as you like, you won't find anything!" At this point, Immortal Master Xuan Qing's figure started to flicker out of existence. "But you've already gotten what you hunted me down for, so why bother anyways?"

The sharp sound of a crack suddenly echoed in the void, signifying the death of an Immortal. From this day onward, there would be no Immortal Master Xuan Qing in the universe.

Jia Ping's frown deepened as he watched his Master's body disintegrate into nothingness right in front of him. Something about the situation did not sit right with him.

He acted then, activating his Heaven Sovereignty Dao to peer into the Netherworld Chiliocosm of the infinite domains in this universe in search of his Master's remnant spirit. He found nothing.

"This can only mean that his soul was utterly destroyed and failed to enter reincarnation, probably due to his action of forcefully sealing that sliver of his Dao Fruit,' he mused. 'There's also the extremely miniscule possibility that he managed to escape with a portion of his soul, which is highly unlikely. To pull that off without leaving behind a single trace, he'd have had to ignite all of his soul potential, turning himself to a dunce shell of his former self."

Regardless, Jia Ping felt slightly uneasy. But he comforted himself with the knowledge of the incomplete Tri-Essence Grand Extremity Path Art he had just gained.

"Master is truly blessed with an otherworldly aptitude. This technique he deduced has so much potential," he mumbled. "If I perfect and cultivate it to Great Completion, achieving Half-Step Tier-Zero might not be entirely impossible. Another step further and I just might transcend the shackles of the Great Cosmological Void. By then, digging out Master's remnant spirit, wherever it is, should be a piece of cake."

With that, Jia Ping tore a passage open into the Void, making to leave the planet. On second thought, he clenched his fist and an energy wave rippled from his body to destroy the entire planet.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the habit of leaving behind any traces. You all can only blame Master for choosing to hide on your planet to avoid my pursuit," he mumbled.

Afterwards, Jia Ping took one last look at the destruction before vanishing completely.

........