"The Dao of Strife..." The Holy Emperor meditated, feeling the surging energy upon Tianyang's skeletal remains.
After a long while, he let out a long breath.
"This Dao can indeed prove immortality, yet it does not align with me."
There was little regret in the Holy Emperor's voice as he disengaged from the Tianyang Armor state.
Returning the remains, Li Ping exhorted Tianyang, "Since the Dao of Strife lies vacant, this resonant relic is an extraordinarily rare treasure for you. Meditate on it deeply. Though the immortal path remains obscured today, the persistence of resonance proves the Dao still exists.
"In time, you might truly achieve the realm of a True Immortal through this!"
Daoist Yijue of the Crossing Adversity Sect watched with longing eyes as Tianyang put away the relic, and then stuffed his elongated eyeballs back into the passage.
"A pity, what a pity..." Daoist Yijue sighed repeatedly.
"Does the sect master of the Crossing Adversity Sect have some grand insight to offer?" Tianyang was irked by Yijue's theatrics.
Daoist Yijue swayed his head and chuckled. "I merely lament that our Crossing Adversity Sect missed a golden opportunity. As the saying goes, when one person attains the Dao, even their dogs and chickens ascend to heaven. If His Great Highness the Holy Emperor had comprehended this lingering thought, he might one day truly attain the Great Dao, and we could have shared in the bounty.
"As for you...
"Such a day might come. But our Crossing Adversity Sect likely won't live to see it."
His words made no effort to conceal his pessimism regarding Tianyang's prospects of attaining immortality.
This time, however, Tianyang was not provoked by the Crossing Adversity Sect's taunt. He merely sensed that faint, unyielding resolve lingering upon his own remains, as if he had returned to the days when he still possessed a mortal body.
Yet perhaps because he was now a puppet, Tianyang tried for a long time but still failed to kindle that hot-blooded fire in his heart.
Even when he uttered those eight words—"Tianyang in his life has never been inferior to anyone"—they sounded different from before.
The hall of the Holy Emperor Throne lapsed into silence for a time.
Before long, however, strange movements from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals below drew their attention.
Rays of light flashed, and a cohort of grim, black-robed cultivators appeared along the moonlight boundary of Tianquan Province.
First, they bowed slightly toward the Mirror Keeper high in the sky. Then, with solemn expressions, they began preparing their arts and stances against the Bright Moon Starlight Formation, which had yet to be breached.
It seemed as though a general assault on the grand formation would launch at any moment.
Various techniques were indeed cast, yet their corresponding manifestations remained frozen in mid-air, as if someone had pressed a pause button on time.
A purple spear crackling like heavenly thunder, twisted spatial rifts, an endless cascade of yellow talismans...
All of them were unleashed and then coalesced into a single point.
They were simply waiting for a tear to be ripped in the Bright Moon Starlight Formation before exploding in unison.
In shifts, the black-robed Alliance cultivators converted the power within their bodies into techniques and condensed them.
After several hours, batch after batch of black-robed cultivators had rotated through.
The techniques accumulated along the formation's boundary reached an appalling magnitude.
A flicker of solemnity crossed the Holy Emperor's face as well.
Without question, if this paused sphere of converging light were detonated across the surface of the Xuanhuang Realm, it could easily reduce several provinces to rubble.
"I'll go." Tianyang was about to step forward to resolve the hazard, but Li Ping stopped him.
"Wait a little longer. I have my own way to handle it," Li Ping said in a low voice.
Tianyang gave a slight nod and did not insist.
Another half day passed. In total, the full-strength strikes of over a thousand cultivators had been poured into the mass.
The miniature sphere of light that coalesced was glaring enough to outshine the bright moon in the sky.
Even that Mirror Keeper seemed to feel a trace of wariness.
The mark on his forehead projected an ancient bronze mirror, enshrouding himself, the nine Dissociation Discs, and the illusory silhouettes of the other secondary bodies.
Within the Dissociation Discs, the light and shadow brought by analyzing the formation shifted rapidly, finally yielding feedback.
From time to time, a fine, colorful thread flew out and drifted toward Lu Xichan not far away.
Upon comprehending the contents of these threads, Lu Xichan trembled slightly, her face rapt in ecstasy.
When she transmitted these insights to the surrounding formation masters, gasps of wonder rippled through their ranks as well.
As they looked at the Bright Moon Starlight Formation before them now, the despair from earlier was gone from their eyes.
Under Lu Xichan's lead, the formation masters began dismantling the formation.
The moonlight, which had previously felt solid like a ribbon of silver silk, began to turn hazy under the influence of outside forces.
The Holy Emperor sensed that this group of Alliance formation masters was like a swarm of tiny insects, steadily gnawing away at the foundation of the Bright Moon Starlight Formation.
To be sure, Li Ping could make minor adjustments to the formation once more.
Moreover, he was confident that even with twenty-eight formation-breaking discs deciphering in concert, their speed could never match his pace of altering the formation. If the Alliance brought out no other special methods, he could keep them trapped for a lifetime using formations alone.
However...
His goal had never been merely to trap them.
The arrangements he had left outside the Xuanhuang Realm informed him that the winds had already begun to blow across the sea of stars.
The struggle between the reviving power of the star sea and the remnant immortal power was about to officially commence.
The Holy Emperor, who had remained seated all this while, slowly rose to his feet.
With a single thought, his towering, magnificent silhouette was projected across the heavenly canopy of Xuanhuang.
As though in seamless coordination, the moon-like Sacred Dynasty of Great Qi dimmed slightly, yielding the stage to Great Qi's Holy Emperor.
The moment Li Ping's projection appeared, the soldiers warring across the Alliance's provinces felt their blood boil, their battle intent soaring to the heavens.
In unison, they shouted, "We welcome the Holy Emperor!"
The roar surged like an ocean tide, echoing across the Xuanhuang lands for a long, long time.
The captured and besieged cultivators of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals looked up in dread at the vast, imposing figure upon the firmament. Involuntarily, legends of the Alliance's Chuanfa Heavenly Venerable surfaced in their minds.
"At this very moment, where is the revered Heavenly Venerable?"
Meanwhile, those Alliance cultivators still putting up desperate last stands were dazed and struck dumb upon witnessing that figure filling their entire vision.
"In days of old, Chuanfa attained the Dao and imparted it to all living beings, creating a glorious millennium of cultivation.
"Yet Chuanfa's method defies the heavens. Heaven and earth are that which nurture and rear cultivators. To devour heaven and earth is no different from slaughtering one's father and butchering one's mother.
"It is not the orthodox path."
...
The Holy Emperor's voice reverberated throughout the Xuanhuang Realm.
Empowered by the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, it rang with absolute clarity in the ears of every living soul.
At first, the cultivators of the Alliance did not realize what this Holy Emperor of Great Qi intended to do.
Yet when they heard the words "not the orthodox path," their expressions shifted drastically across the board.
The Mirror Keeper overseeing the Dissociation Discs grew grim.
Across the four central provinces, lights flickered relentlessly—the high-ranking Alliance leaders stationed at headquarters were finally incensed.
To slander the Chuanfa Heavenly Venerable was to slander the entire Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
It was to shake the legitimacy and the very foundation of the Alliance's rule.
To the Alliance's upper echelons, the fallout from this was far graver than losing all the outer provinces.
After all, lost territory could be reclaimed by force.
Yet once hearts and minds changed...
"Break the formation! Break it immediately!"
The furious roar of Preacher Ren sounded in Lu Xichan's ears.
The formation masters fell silent as cicadas in winter and threw themselves desperately into their work.
Yet even as they dismantled the formation, they could not help but secretly listen to that voice descending from high above.
Accompanied by holy omens constantly manifesting across the sky, it drifted into every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"I too possess a method to embark upon the immortal path without borrowing the power of heaven and earth.
"Namely: Self-Foundation Establishment, Primal Chaos Golden Core, Fleshly Body Nascent Soul, Mind-Intent Soul Formation...
"Star Sea Dao Integration...
"Resonating Dao Longevity!"
The Holy Emperor's proclamation struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, resounding through the heaven and earth of Xuanhuang.
It seized the attention of every cultivator.
After all, purely by the names alone, the Holy Emperor's path sounded considerably more profound than Chuanfa's method.
Moreover, auspicious clouds gathered and golden light shimmered across heaven and earth in an unbroken succession of omens, leaving the cultivators dazed in awe.
The last time a supreme expert had preached the Dao in the Xuanhuang Realm was thousands of years ago, when the Chuanfa Immortal Venerable did so.
After Chuanfa's method was verified by the world, the Chuanfa Immortal Venerable of the Dao Integration stage became the Chuanfa Heavenly Venerable of the Longevity realm.
If this new method proved viable, did it not mean that another peerless expert capable of contending with Chuanfa had emerged in the Xuanhuang Realm?
Surrendering to bandits of unknown origin might lead to reckonings by the Alliance later on.
Yet if they turned to this Holy Emperor's banner...
A strange atmosphere began circulating among the Alliance cultivators.
The Holy Emperor's sermon continued.
"The first step on the path to immortality: Self-Foundation Establishment.
"Borrowing the wonders of heaven and earth can lay a foundation. Why? Because the wonders of this world are the embodiments of laws.
"Yet the most wondrous thing in this world is not an object, but the spirit.
"To establish the foundation upon oneself is to lay the bedrock for myriad principles of the world!"
...
Though the method of Self-Foundation Establishment was exceedingly profound, as the Holy Emperor laid it out, it became lucid and easy to grasp.
At this moment in the Xuanhuang Realm, even mortals who had yet to embark upon cultivation could dimly understand the general gist.
To say nothing of the Alliance cultivators who had already walked the path of Chuanfa once before!
In truth, the Holy Emperor's new method was built upon the foundation of Chuanfa's method, yet it shattered those shackles and underwent a total rebirth.
Those who cultivated Chuanfa's method naturally found it intimately familiar.
Merely by listening, thoughts of "so that's how it is," "it truly works," and "brilliant!" surged unbidden in their minds.
Certain Alliance cultivators who happened to be at the peak of Qi Refinement, struggling to break through to Foundation Establishment because they lacked a Foundation Establishment wonder, suddenly saw the light.
As if doused in enlightenment, they were beside themselves with excitement: "Why bother racking our brains searching for some wonder? The Holy Emperor is right—I myself am the wonder!
"Establish the foundation! Establish the foundation!"
They entered secluded cultivation on the spot to comprehend it.
Though Self-Foundation Establishment was far from easy in practice, Qi Refinement cultivators made up the vast majority in the sprawling Xuanhuang Realm.
With such a massive base, even the smallest probability multiplied out to thousands upon thousands of successes!
The Holy Emperor had only preached as far as the middle chapter of Primal Chaos Golden Core when new cultivators of Self-Foundation Establishment began emerging continuously across the Xuanhuang lands!
Their treatment upon breaking through was entirely different from those cultivating Chuanfa's method.
After these new cultivators broke through, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged frantically and spontaneously into their bodies, as though they were truly the chosen protagonists of legend, favored by the Heavenly Dao.
Several of them even had rays of rosy light descend around them upon breakthrough.
Amidst the rosy glow were various heavenly treasures, offered up like gifts from heaven and earth.
The contrast in heaven and earth's attitude was simply too vast; other cultivators could not help but watch with burning envy.
Those at the Golden Core stage and above might still harbor misgivings.
Yet for cultivators at Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment, dispersing their cultivation to rebuild carried virtually no burden.
After all, even if this new method of the Holy Emperor could not be cultivated, so long as their Foundation Establishment wonder was preserved, they could start over at any time.
After dispersing their cultivation, they put aside and preserved their wonders.
Then, with rapt attention, they began cultivating Self-Foundation Establishment.
The number of Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm vastly exceeded all other realms combined.
Even if only one in ten among them chose the Holy Emperor's new method, it would be an immense blow to the Chuanfa Heavenly Venerable and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Beyond Preacher Ren, the other Preachers could no longer sit still.
Tests within Alliance Headquarters had already proven the genuine viability of Self-Foundation Establishment.
If this Holy Emperor were allowed to preach any further...
The high-ranking cultivators of the Alliance shivered in dread.
***
Alliance Nether Prison.
In the deepest part of the spatial pocket holding thousands of heinous outlaws.
A figure reduced almost entirely to withered bone hung pinned in the void, limbs spread wide in the shape of a cross.
A closer look revealed that upon every single bone, raging flames burned, lightning crashed, and strange insects gnawed without pause...
Under suffering beyond words, the figure appeared accustomed to it, his expression serene.
Or rather, his skeletal face could no longer register any expression at all.
At this moment, enduring endless bodily agony, he raised his head slightly.
Pitch-black eye sockets peered through the layered spaces of the Nether Prison toward the firmament of the Xuanhuang Realm.
"Self-Foundation Establishment...
"Self-Foundation Establishment..."
A stream of black flame emerged from the void like a serpent.
It shot straight toward him, piercing his chest in an instant.
The black flame passed through his heart, yet remnants clung to the wound, burning what little flesh, withered bone, and even remnant soul he had left.
Even with his endurance, he could not suppress a muffled grunt.
"Self-Foundation Establishment, Self-Foundation Establishment..."
Yet he continued muttering endlessly, faint starlight flickering within his dark eye sockets.
For a long time, no sensation other than pain had surfaced in his heart.
Now, however, he dimly saw a glimmer of hope.
A hope of breaking free.
How long had he been imprisoned here?
The sunless Nether Prison had made him nearly lose all sense of time.
Judging by the scars upon his body, it had to have been a full five hundred years.
Ever since he was captured and locked away here, he had abandoned all thought of escape.
After all, the Alliance had thoroughly drained all his abilities.
Even if he miraculously escaped this place, he would never find his way back under the pursuit of the Alliance.
Yet now, through this voice reaching into the depths of the Nether Prison, he might truly be able to flee.
"Every fraction of pain is built upon my vessel.
"It is all felt by 'me.'
"The source of pain is 'me.'
"I establish the foundation..."
Specks of golden light began to flicker along with his words.
This golden light seemed to originate from the deepest parts of what withered bone remained.
It had stayed hidden until now, ignited only for this desperate gamble.
Amidst creaks and groans, the golden light baked the withered bones like fire.
The bones melted like candle wax, yet upon cooling, they reshaped into a slightly smaller body of normal form.
The surrounding restrictions detected the anomaly.
Punishments triggered in rapid succession, battering the figure.
Yet he was long accustomed to them, even absorbing these punitive measures to fuel the forging of his new body.
Under the golden light, the figure shrank smaller and smaller.
In the end, only a palm-sized form remained.
Stepping out from the original withered bones, he muttered, "Self-Foundation Establishment actually reverted me to the state when I first began cultivating.
"A supreme and profound method indeed!
"Even if I was delayed inside the high wall for over five hundred years, bringing this method back will make it all worthwhile."
The tiny golden figure transformed into a streak of golden light and flew straight out from the deepest reaches of the Nether Prison.
He bypassed every restriction along the way.
Even the guards of the Alliance Nether Prison seemed completely blind to the escaping golden light.
Arriving upon the surface, the miniature golden figure gazed up at the Holy Emperor's image in the sky.
"A land of desperate straits truly breeds exceptional talents. In just five hundred years, another figure like this has appeared between heaven and earth...
"Primal Chaos Golden Core."
The tiny golden figure listened intently for a long time, his brow furrowed.
"A bit odd. Could it be that I've been locked up so long I've turned stupid?
"No matter. I'll memorize it first. Once I get out, plenty of people can study it."
***
The Holy Emperor of Great Qi naturally did not know that he had quietly gained a listener from beyond the high wall.
By now, his sermon had reached the final stage: Resonating Dao Longevity.
"Beyond Xuanhuang, upon the sea of stars, lies the Great Dao leading to immortality.
"When True Immortals fall, the Great Dao lies vacant.
"Tracing back the Dao-shadows and resonating with the true intent of the Dao, one may glimpse the Longevity realm..."
The Holy Emperor preached with solemn gravity.
Even the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao itself seemed to gain insight from these mysterious and abstruse words.
The winds of the world fell completely still.
Across the vast Xuanhuang Realm, no other sound remained save for the Sacred Dynasty's sermon.
Even the Alliance cultivators, who had previously been desperate to breach the Bright Moon Starlight Formation, were now dazed, listening to the Holy Emperor's words in a trance.
The higher one's realm and strength, the greater the shock in one's heart.
***
Alliance Headquarters, Museum of Divine Treasures.
Xu Ke and Master Yin were waiting for the decisive battle between the Alliance and the Sacred Dynasty to erupt so they could detonate the Golden Tree and retrieve Mr. Bai's skull. Suddenly, they felt the ground beneath their feet begin to sway.
The faint tremors gradually escalated into violent shaking.
"This is..." Xu Ke was slightly startled.
He sensed that it wasn't merely the Museum of Divine Treasures shaking. The source of the tremors was the very space housing the museum!
The quaking grew fiercer. The Alliance Headquarters, usually dim like a night sky, slowly began to glow with specks of starlight.
"Alliance Headquarters is located within the Tianxuan Mirror. Could this be... the Tianxuan Mirror breaking through?" Master Yin's face showed surprise, uncertain whether this anomaly boded well or ill for them.
***
Inside the Yanfa Jue space.
Li Fan's true body also sensed the faint tremors outside.
The three guarding Dao Integration experts instantly grew tense.
After all, such a sight had not occurred once in hundreds of years.
Zhang Xu and Hua Yueye guarded the front of Yanfa Jue, while Li Fan stood watch at the entrance to the space.
Fortunately, Elder Xu of the Protector Hall soon sent a transmission stating that all was well, allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief.
*If I'm not mistaken, the Holy Emperor avatar must have attacked,* Li Fan pondered inwardly.
Just then, he felt the little girl Yanfa Jue wake from her sound sleep and attempt to contact him through her simulated persona.
With a shift of his mind, he took control of the simulated persona.
"Whoa, something huge happened outside!" The little girl made an exaggerated face.
"Trapped in here, you missed it—what a shame!" Yanfa Jue looked at Li Fan with eyes full of pity.
"You can see the outside?" Li Fan eyed her suspiciously.
Yanfa Jue huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Me? Of course not.
"But someone told me! What, not convinced?
"How about this: beg your Lady Auntie, and I'll tell you the big news from outside!" The little girl spoke with immense swagger.
Seeing Li Fan unmoved and deep in thought, she coaxed, "Aren't you at the Dao Integration stage now? Hearing what's happening outside will definitely help you immensely! Even my own deduction speed jumped quite a bit after listening..." Yanfa Jue said solemnly.
"The one secretly telling you about the outside... is the Tianxuan Mirror?" Li Fan suddenly asked.
The expression on Yanfa Jue's face froze instantly. She waved her hand dismissively. "Hahaha, how could that be!"
Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "The tremor just now...
"The Tianxuan Mirror ascending? How is that possible? There was no Measuring Heaven and Sizing Earth by the Alliance in this lifetime...
"Even Yanfa Jue gained something.
"Could it really have been caused by the Holy Emperor's sermon?"
Li Fan felt uncertain.
His two avatars outside had indeed witnessed the Holy Emperor preaching.
Yet he already knew the Holy Emperor had fabricated it to undermine the foundation of Chuanfa's teachings.
Aside from the Self-Foundation Establishment chapter, the rest were castles in the air—fabricated nonsense that could not be cultivated.
Thus, he hadn't paid it much mind.
Yet now, judging by the reactions of Yanfa Jue and the Tianxuan Mirror, that sermon...
Actually held genuine substance.
Looking at Yanfa Jue strutting before him, waiting for him to beg, Li Fan scoffed inwardly and recited the Holy Emperor's sermon word for word.
Yanfa Jue looked as if she had seen a ghost. "Big Brother Tianxuan Mirror told you too?"
Li Fan grunted coldly without answering.
The little girl wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant, growing disheartened.
"Boring!
"I'm going to sleep!"
"Wait!" Li Fan called out to stop her.
Yanfa Jue looked at him warily.
"It makes sense that this new method is useful to cultivators.
"But it brought enlightenment even to you, the Yanfa Jue?" Li Fan looked skeptical.
Yanfa Jue rolled her eyes at him. "Didn't you hear? 'Beyond Xuanhuang, upon the sea of stars, lies the Great Dao leading to immortality!
"'When True Immortals fall, the Great Dao lies vacant!
"'Tracing back the Dao-shadows, resonating with the true intent of the Dao...'
Yanfa Jue widened her eyes. "Take me for example. Yanfa Jue is intrinsically the embodiment of the Xuanhuang Realm's laws.
"And the law of Dharma Deduction in the Xuanhuang Realm is a projection of that Dao to attain immortality above the sea of stars...
"In other words, when it comes to resonating with the Great Dao, we possess a natural advantage."
Yanfa Jue couldn't help sounding smug. "That's something you cultivators could never hope to match!
"If you want to resonate with the Great Dao, you at least have to find its traces first, right? The Dao to attain immortality is ethereal and fleeting. Even if you happen to catch a glimpse by chance, maintaining that connection is exceedingly difficult!"
Seeing Li Fan's grave expression, the little girl grew even more proud.
Then she seemed to recall something and turned guarded. "Don't get any ideas about stealing mine! Honestly, even if you used me to forcefully comprehend this Dao of Deduction, it wouldn't work."
"Why?" Li Fan asked.
"Do you still remember that character I showed you before? Thinking about it now, it was like a painting—depicting the Dao to attain immortality for others to view.
"It wasn't the substance of the Dao, merely a painting, which is why even ordinary cultivators could perceive it.
"But we are projections of the Dao to attain immortality. You aren't me, so how could you look 'upward' and see the Dao itself?"
Yanfa Jue spoke very slowly, word by word.
Conveying this concept seemed to be quite difficult even for her.
"The Great Dao lies vacant...
"True Immortal seal characters, the Dao-Inscribing Immortal..."
Li Fan was lost in thought.
All past scenes connected to the power of immortals surfaced in his mind, flashing by in rapid succession.
Finally, four words faintly emerged.
"Eternal Lingering Thoughts?"
Li Fan felt a twinge of uncertainty.
"Not a projection of the Dao to attain immortality, but a resonance of the Dao.
"Resonating Dao Longevity—so that's what it means.
"To think the Holy Emperor could discover the existence of Eternal Lingering Thoughts?"
Tianyang's silhouette flashed across Li Fan's mind.
*Yes, that must be it.*
He was his avatar after all; even with the connection severed, Li Fan quickly deduced the probable truth from the scattered clues.
*Fascinating. It seems that after assimilating the blood essence of Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba, this Holy Emperor of Great Qi possesses even greater comprehension than I anticipated.*
*Then again, my own comprehension was never ordinary to begin with...*
Li Fan once more perused the incomplete new method that he had previously dismissed.
*If Eternal Lingering Thoughts are resonances of the Dao, and Hezhen becomes so ravenous every time it senses an Eternal Lingering Thought, does that mean what Hezhen truly needs is the Dao to attain immortality?*
*Something that can replenish Hezhen's power...*
Thoughts raced through Li Fan's mind.
***
Outside the Xuanhuang Realm, the Sacred Dynasty's sermon was drawing to a close.
Regardless of whether they belonged to the Sacred Dynasty, all living beings who heard the preaching bowed slightly in awe of the Holy Emperor.
After all, they would never have had the chance to hear such a wondrous method in their entire lives.
Yet the Holy Emperor had shared it with them selflessly.
Many cultivators even wept tears of gratitude, kowtowing repeatedly as they became the Holy Emperor's most devout followers.
Along the moonlight boundary of the Alliance's four provinces.
The formation masters recovered from the shock of the Holy Emperor's sermon.
They exchanged glances and turned to Lu Xichan.
"Continue breaking the formation!" Though she had benefited from the sermon, on matters of principle, Lu Xichan, as the Chief of the Formation Planning Hall, would never waver.
She issued the cold command.
"No need." The voice of a Preacher coming from behind froze her in her tracks.
"The Heavenly Venerable has returned." Preacher Ren looked toward the sky, his eyes burning with fanaticism.
Chapter 1295