NovelPantheon

Dao Kong

Direct descendant of Dao ChenMorning Dao prodigy and faction leaderlater the identity and body used by Su Ming

Dao Kong is a direct descendant of Dao Chen whose talent, faction, and inherited kismet make him a leading contender within Morning Dao Sect. His own life ends when Su Ming Possesses him in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. Thereafter, the name “Dao Kong” belongs publicly to Su's disguise: the deeds that make it famous across Divine Essence Star Ocean and Morning Dao Sect are performed through Dao Kong's body and status, not by the original man whose soul was destroyed.

Biography

Divine Essence and Ecang

Before arriving on Black Ink Planet, the original Dao Kong is already one of Morning Dao Sect's most formidable young political figures. He belongs to Dao Chen's direct line, possesses exceptional potential, and ranks among the leading direct descendants in building an independent force. He is cautious in execution but fierce and ambitious in purpose. That combination is visible in his handling of Ye Wang: rather than confronting the sect's celebrated outsider-prodigy at full institutional strength, Dao Kong manipulates circumstances so Ye Wang enters the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, where Dao's competitors and followers are constrained. He intends either to draw Ye Wang into his faction or remove him. (Chapter 895)

Dao Kong does not arrive as an isolated cultivator. Galactic warships carry nine Frail Darkness protectors, three thousand fearless warriors controlled through his soul, servants, and other members of his Morning Dao force. His arranged connection to Xu Hui and Phoenix Sect adds another layer of prestige, but it is not a relationship of trust. Xu Hui regards him with contempt and limits her obligation to protecting his life; she refuses to become an instrument for his crueler demands. Dao Kong in turn treats her as a political possession and is quick to threaten or mistreat subordinates, including a pointy-eared servant, whenever his dignity is challenged. (Chapters 895–900)

Su Ming chooses Dao Kong as his target after initially considering Ye Wang. Morning Dao Sect's role in Su's suffering makes a direct descendant more useful than a talented recruit, and Dao's body offers legitimacy, followers, and a route into the sect. Su secretly controls Black Ink Auction and places a Sacred Constellation Robe there with a hidden Relocation arrangement. Dao Kong's desire for the treasure and confidence in his protection draw him into the trap. The contest therefore turns his own political habits against him: a man accustomed to manipulating another prodigy into dangerous territory is himself isolated by an opponent who controls the ground. (Chapters 898–903)

Inside Dao Kong's mind, Su's Abyss Builder Possession overwhelms every defense. Dao Kong gathers his cultivation, soul, and thoughts to resist and insists that no one can Possess him, but his will is erased and his soul scatters. His original cultivation also begins to dissipate with his death; Su does not immediately inherit it as a ready-made realm and initially retains the cultivation of his own clone. The transformation is complete at the level of soul and mind, though absorbing Dao Kong's memories takes approximately a month. From this point forward, later narration may call the body “Dao Kong,” but the acting consciousness is Su Ming. (Chapters 903–905)

The disguise succeeds because the Possession preserves what outside observers expect to recognize. Dao Kong's blood, body, soul connections, control over the fearless warriors, and links to his followers remain outwardly intact. Even a family seal meant to expose or prevent the Possession of Dao descendants does not trigger the response it was designed to summon. Xu Hui initially cannot reconcile the evidence with Possession, though behavioral changes eventually let her identify Su beneath the appearance. The original Dao Kong's institutional protections thus become the architecture of his replacement instead of saving him. (Chapters 905–940)

When the possessed body later retrieves the catwoman servant caught in the conflict, the action is Su Ming accepting responsibility for someone who became “his” subordinate through taking Dao Kong's position. It should not be used as evidence that the original Dao was secretly compassionate. The contrast is precisely what begins to distinguish the two men: identical bodily ties continue, while choice and moral response change with the consciousness inside them. (Chapter 999)

The Fifth Furnace and Morning Dao

During Su Ming's long absence around the Fifth Furnace, Dao Kong's old organization survives under a new center. Xu Hui reunites with the nine Frail Darkness protectors, the three thousand fearless warriors, the warships, and other Morning Dao followers, then waits in the Barren Lands for Su to return. Their loyalty appears to the wider world as loyalty to Dao Kong because the Possession preserved the body's soul-bound authority. In reality, this continuity is the most durable consequence of the original man's death: the faction he built becomes transport, cover, and military backing for his killer. (Chapter 1030)

The body itself also carries True Morning Dao World's kismet. When an ancient will attacks, that world-favor intervenes because it cherishes Dao Kong's physical form. Su realizes that this was not merely fortunate inheritance. He concludes that Su Xuan Yi guided Dao Kong into Divine Essence Star Ocean so that Su would Possess him, receive True Morning's kismet, and use it to blind the will of Yin Death Region while the Seed of Life Extermination served as the true hidden blow. Dao Kong's ambition had made him believe he was entering the Barren Lands to expand his own power; the later revelation recasts his route as part of another man's plan for Su. (Chapter 1032)

Using Dao Kong's identity, Su crosses back into Morning Dao Sect and competes for its highest succession. The direct-descendant bloodline, robe, memories, followers, and kismet allow him to pass institutional barriers and eventually become the sect's Dynast. These are achievements of Su acting as Dao Kong, not a posthumous continuation of the original consciousness. The distinction matters most when the assumed identity confronts Dao Chen and Morning Dao's political order: Su is weaponizing the dead man's legitimacy to enter the organization he wants to master and overturn. (Chapters 1032–1100, 1168)

The physical disguise is not permanent. Dao Kong's body is later destroyed in a world beyond the universe, after which Su can still manifest a Dao Kong-shaped clone from his soul at relatively little cost. Even that replacement is instrumental rather than resurrection. Once Su acquires Zhang Ji Dao's body, he does not restore the old Dao Kong form, showing that the persona has become one interchangeable vessel among several rather than an independent being seeking survival. (Chapters 1130, 1154–1158)

Reports about “Dynast Dao Kong” subsequently include powers and acts the original never possessed. The Light of Extreme Darkness, later slaughter, and Su's command of Morning Dao belong to Su or to treasures he uses while carrying the title. Observers who recognize that the light comes from an artifact and a different figure can even infer that the person before them is not Dao Kong's physical body. Public reputation preserves a single name, but the underlying body, soul, and source of power no longer match the man introduced in the Barren Lands. (Chapters 1154–1168)

Arid Triad and the dying aeon

In the dying aeon, the borrowed appearance no longer guarantees recognition. Xu Hui, whose memories and circumstances have changed, looks upon Su as a stranger even though their earlier bond developed while he lived as Dao Kong. Her response demonstrates that the identity's continuity always depended on memory and relationship, not merely a reproduced face. Su likewise looks back on his return to Morning Dao as something he accomplished by Possessing Dao Kong, explicitly separating his own path from the man whose name opened it. (Chapters 1211–1213)

After Su becomes master of True Morning World, “Dao Kong” is increasingly a historical mask rather than an active identity. Su remembers being forced by circumstance and design to return under that name, while the sect and world built their understanding around a direct descendant who had apparently transformed into a Dynast. The original Dao Kong receives none of this later authority: the kismet in his body becomes part of Su's rise, and the political capital he accumulated is absorbed into a sovereignty that would have been unimaginable to him. (Chapters 1226, 1359)

The distinction eventually survives as legend. In a tavern, the famous figure is described as “Dao Kong, but also not Dao Kong”—an Abyss Builder surnamed Su who Possessed the descendant, swept through Divine Essence Star Ocean, stirred the Fifth Furnace, subdued foreign races, and then went to True Morning Dao World. Ordinary retelling has therefore preserved the fraud more accurately than the title alone: Dao Kong's name remains famous, but fame belongs to the impersonator's career. (Chapter 1359)

Ancient Zang and the final truth

Near the end of Su Ming's path, he discovers Ma Fei's soul mark in dust drifting through the vast universe. He remembers her as the young woman who guided him through Morning Dao Sect while he posed as Dao Kong. The fragment strengthens his confidence that the people and history he remembers were real, giving the old disguise a final significance as part of the life whose truth he is trying to prove. (Chapter 1480)

The discovery concerns someone connected to Su's assumed identity, not the restoration of Dao Kong himself. No surviving will, soul, or independent consciousness of the original man appears with Ma Fei's mark. At the supplied endpoint, Dao Kong remains dead, while the relationships formed under his name belong to Su Ming's remembered experience. (Chapter 1480)

Appearance and personality

Dao Kong has a handsome face and long black hair, and his Sacred Constellation Robe marks him as a direct descendant of Morning Dao's Dao Family. His warships, attendants, and disciplined retinue extend that visual authority, presenting him as a “dragon among people” rather than a lone traveler. Later descriptions of the same face and robe often depict Su Ming after Possession; they confirm the body's appearance, but expressions or mannerisms from that period cannot automatically be assigned to the original personality. (Chapters 895–905, 1032)

The original Dao Kong is proud, ambitious, cautious, and ruthless. He builds a large personal force and prefers indirect arrangements that weaken a rival before confrontation. His treatment of servants and possessive attitude toward Xu Hui show cruelty beneath his polished political bearing, while his plan for Ye Wang demonstrates that he recognizes talent chiefly as something to recruit or eliminate. He can speak and bargain persuasively, but his self-control gives way when he is humiliated or trapped. (Chapters 895–903)

After Chapter 904, apparent growth in patience, responsibility, affection, or strategic purpose belongs to Su Ming. Xu Hui's eventual recognition rests partly on this difference in behavior. Separating the two is essential to Dao Kong's characterization: bodily continuity makes the deception convincing, but it does not turn Su's values or later choices into a hidden better side of the man he killed. (Chapters 904–940, 999)

Abilities and cultivation

The original Dao Kong possesses extraordinary potential, Dao-family inheritances, True Morning kismet, and a large soul-bound organization. The corpus does not provide a complete, source-confirmed sequence of his formal realm advances before his death, and his original cultivation dissipates during Possession. Su Ming's later realms and techniques while wearing the body are therefore not treated as Dao Kong's progression. (Chapters 895–905)

Dao bloodline, potential, and kismet

As a direct descendant of Dao Chen, Dao Kong is considered one of Morning Dao Sect's highest-potential heirs. The body gathers True Morning Dao World's kismet, a form of world-favor that offers “limitless growth” to the clone inhabiting it and can draw the world's protection against outside interference. This is an inherited structural advantage rather than proof that the original Dao Kong had already reached every realm his potential promised. After Possession, Su benefits from it because the kismet remains attached to the body and recognized bloodline. (Chapters 895, 905, 1032)

The kismet is powerful but not sovereign. It can intervene against hostile will and facilitate growth, yet Su Xuan Yi's plan uses it as concealment while another object delivers the decisive attack. Nor does it preserve Dao Kong's consciousness: world-favor protects the form after Su has erased the person. Its latest demonstrated use thus belongs to Su's possessed clone, and it ends as Dao Kong's personal attribute when that body is destroyed. (Chapters 1032, 1154–1158)

Soul-bound followers and command

Dao Kong controls three thousand fearless warriors through his soul and commands nine Frail Darkness protectors, numerous retainers, and more than a dozen galactic warships. The warriors' synchronized presence is strong enough that they are prepared to fight even vastly stronger enemies, while the ships provide travel, formation functions, and secure chambers accessible to their master. His political skill is inseparable from these resources: he is among the direct descendants most successful at creating a faction rather than merely cultivating alone. (Chapters 895–905)

This strength is organizational and partly external. The nine old protectors have their own cultivation, the warships provide artifact-based functions, and the warriors' fearlessness comes through a controlling soul connection rather than Dao Kong personally reproducing all their force. Possession preserves that connection so completely that the followers do not register their master's death. Their later service demonstrates the precision of Su's replacement, not a continuing ability exercised by Dao Kong's erased soul. (Chapters 905–940, 1030)

Possession defenses and their failure

Dao Kong's body bears a seal designed to prevent a direct Dao-family descendant from being Possessed and to alert Morning Dao's powerful cultivators if an attempt succeeds. He also resists Su within his mind by concentrating his power, soul, and thoughts. Both defenses fail against Su's Abyss Builder nature and preparation. The seal neither saves Dao nor exposes the replacement, and raw resistance cannot prevent his will from being erased in fewer than the fifteen breaths Su predicts. (Chapters 903–905, 940)

The aftermath defines the limits of what Su gains. The body, blood, kismet, memories, and soul-linked authority can be copied into the possessed identity, but Dao Kong's existing cultivation loses corporeal reality and dissipates when he dies. Su needs about a month to digest the memories and must learn the finer functions of the robe rather than receiving instant mastery. Possession therefore transfers identity-bearing structures more perfectly than it transfers the victim's cultivated power or lived knowledge. (Chapters 905–940)

Sacred Constellation Robe

The Sacred Constellation Robe is restricted to direct descendants of the Dao Family. Dao Kong's own robe is fourth-tier. Its established functions include concealment of Divine Essence, protection capable of resisting one full-power strike from a Lunar Kalpa cultivator, and power that increases with the number of retainers enslaved or bound to its wearer. Ninth-tier robes are said to reveal further abilities and turn silver, a level Dao Kong's robe has not attained. (Chapters 905–940)

The robe is equipment, not innate cultivation. Su initially uses it as cover for Divine Essence before he has examined all its functions, and only gains fuller control after digesting Dao Kong's memories. A separate robe placed in Black Ink Auction is fitted into the Relocation trap used to isolate Dao Kong; acquiring it demonstrates his wealth and desire for Dao-family treasures, not immunity to their manipulation. The original owner's latest access ends with his death, even though Su continues to wear and master the inherited garment. (Chapters 898–905, 940)

Powers attributed to the possessed identity

Su's Abyss Possession, Divine Essence, later cultivation, Light of Extreme Darkness, Dynast authority, and ability to create a Dao Kong-shaped clone are not Dao Kong's learned or innate abilities. They appear under his name because Su uses his face, bloodline, and office. The Dao-shaped soul clone is cheap for Su to manifest after the physical body is destroyed, but it is neither the original body nor a recovered Dao Kong consciousness. (Chapters 1130, 1154–1168)

Relationships

  • Su Ming: Su lures Dao Kong into a controlled auction trap, erases his soul through Possession, and uses his body, memories, kismet, followers, and identity to enter Morning Dao Sect. The later legend of Dao Kong is principally the story of Su's impersonation.
  • Ye Wang: Dao Kong sees Ye Wang's exceptional potential as both an asset and a threat. He manipulates Ye Wang into the Barren Lands intending to recruit him under weaker conditions or kill him if recruitment fails.
  • Xu Hui: Their arranged union links Morning Dao and Phoenix Sect, but Xu Hui despises the original Dao Kong and agrees only to protect him. After Possession, she gradually recognizes Su through changes in conduct and becomes attached to the man using Dao's body, not to Dao himself.
  • Dao Chen: Dao Kong is his direct descendant and derives lineage status, institutional protection, and True Morning kismet from that position. Su later uses those credentials to approach Dao Chen and compete for Morning Dao's succession.
  • Su Xuan Yi: Su Ming concludes that Su Xuan Yi maneuvered Dao Kong into Divine Essence so his son could Possess the body and acquire its kismet. Under that plan, Dao Kong is an unwitting delivery mechanism rather than a partner.
  • Ma Fei: Ma Fei serves as Su's guide while he poses as Dao Kong. Her relationship is with the possessed identity; her later soul mark revives Su's memory of that period but offers no evidence that the original Dao survived.
  • Pointy-eared servant: Dao Kong's harsh treatment of this subordinate illustrates his temper and assumption that dependents exist to absorb his displeasure.
  • Three thousand fearless warriors and nine Frail Darkness protectors: They form the military core of Dao Kong's faction. Their connections survive his death and transfer their practical service to Su without exposing the Possession.

Items

  • Sacred Constellation Robe: Dao Kong's inherited fourth-tier robe provides protection, concealment, and power linked to retainers. Su masters and continues using it after taking his body.
  • Galactic warships: Dao Kong commands a fleet that transports his faction and can create protected chambers for its recognized master. The fleet passes under Su's control through Possession.
  • Dao-family anti-Possession seal: A protective mark intended to prevent Possession and alert Morning Dao authorities. Su bypasses it, making its failure central to the success of the impersonation.
  • Auctioned Sacred Constellation Robe: A coveted robe offered under Su's control at Black Ink Auction. Its concealed Relocation arrangement isolates Dao Kong and enables the Possession trap.
  • Seed of Life Extermination: Dao Kong never wields this object. His association is indirect but crucial: Su concludes that the body's True Morning kismet was acquired to blind Yin Death's will while the Seed delivered Su Xuan Yi's real attack.