"Not at all, not at all!"
The two exchanged a look and hurriedly bowed with clasped hands. Wang Long said:
"What words are those, Fellow Daoist? When you were born... the clouds swirled like a canopy, white cicadas blanketed the ground, and a qilin bore the child in its jaws. We all received our orders back then. Judge Yang dispatched the two of us to the corresponding realm in the Netherworld. One blew the conch while the other stirred the wind, and we ascended from Shiqi to strike the Chenmeng Bell for three quarters of an hour—all in accordance with ancient rites to celebrate your arrival. We long knew this day would come, so waiting a brief moment is nothing."
Li Zhouwei naturally understood that his birth had never been hidden from anyone. Perhaps some Violet Palace cultivator on the coast or in the north remained in the dark, but when the figures perched at the apex of heaven played their game of chess with the four seas grasped in their palms, how could their eyes ever stray from the board? Naturally, they knew everything down to the finest detail. Taking the opportunity, he asked:
"I have truly troubled you both. The realm under heaven is vast indeed; in this current age, who knows how many people display such omens? You truly flatter me too much."
"You are mistaken, Fellow Daoist."
Wang Long shook his head and answered:
"You do not possess merely one karmic mandate. Your nobility lies in being a descendant of a Golden Core, backed by an exalted heritage worthy of such a mandate, making it all the more august. There are other talents under heaven who also bear karmic mandates, yet once they break through to the Violet Palace and cultivate their destiny divine abilities, what was born with them is eventually matched by what others cultivate. Even if theirs hold some peculiar wonder, it is hard to say how much greater they truly are than other divine abilities. I have heard of the matters across the realm. Setting aside those blessed with innate sword talents and the like, and speaking strictly of karmic mandates and bloodlines, aside from the one in the Tuoba family, anyone else who could compare to your lordship has only just been born.
"What is more..."
He hesitated slightly, as if debating whether he should speak, casting another glance before finally saying:
"I trust Fellow Daoist is well aware of your own standing. You were able to decide the future of someone with a great karmic destiny and great divine ability in full view of everyone—who then could claim your karmic destiny is not immense? Is that not a divine ability in itself? Naturally, all manner of wondrous marvels would arise. And when a Dao fruit as overbearing as Mingyang no longer exclusively favors a single person, is an exception like you not worthy of being called having a mandate beyond measure?"
Li Zhouwei's affairs were a game played across the heavens. What the dragonkind knew, the Netherworld was no less privy to. The two before him both maintained courteous attitudes, and Zhang Gui spoke in his slow, simple voice:
"Fellow Daoist's mandate belongs to Mingyang, and your blood inherits Emperor Wei's lineage. In ancient times, you would surely have been hailed as a Dao Physique."
Not being a man of many words, he stopped abruptly. His companion chimed in at once:
"Back then, each Dao Physique in the State of Wei bore a different name, all exceedingly long. Emperor Wu's was called the Imperial Physique of Heaven's Singular Bright Radiance, Revered by All Ten Directions. It was really nothing special... haha... emperors of the Heavenly Dynasties always set great store by such things."
Li Zhouwei fell into contemplation. The two Netherworld emissaries seemed short on time. Wang Long nodded repeatedly and cut straight to the business at hand, clasping his hands in a formal bow:
"Although we are already well acquainted with your illustrious name, the formalities must still be observed..."
With that, he straightened his posture and asked with an air of solemn authority:
"What is your family name and given name?"
Li Zhouwei nodded.
"A scion of the Li clan, Zhouwei. Zhou as in 'cycle and renewal', and Wei as in 'towering loftiness.'"
As soon as his voice fell, ink welled up on the tip of the large brush in Wang Long's hand. Beside him, Zhang Gui asked:
"Are we still looking for it?"
His pink lips parted and closed as he began flipping through the thick tome in his hands, but Wang Long urged him on impatiently:
"What is there to look for? Just write it down!"
Clearly, much like Li Ximing, Li Zhouwei's name was almost certainly nowhere to be found in the book. Having mingled between the mortal world and the Netherworld for so many years, how could Wang Long not understand? He grumbled internally:
*No wonder you have been an emissary longer than I have and still haven't been promoted—you have no eye for the situation at all! Li Ximing's name could already not be found, likely by the hand of some great power. Li Zhouwei is blatantly even more important than him, a major piece in the shifting tides of the realm. It would be bizarre if his name were in there!*
The two bustled for quite a while before setting brush to paper. Having listened to them, Li Zhouwei brushed his hand against the storage bag at his waist and retrieved a jade box. Yet Wang Long smiled and said:
"You must not! You must not!"
Ordinary gifts could be accepted, but not from this person. Pushing the jade box back, Wang Long wore a somewhat sheepish smile and said:
"How could we take anything from you, Fellow Daoist? If not for the constraints of our duties, the two of us ought to be presenting gifts to you instead. We cannot speak of the affairs of great figures, but in the future, when you have the opportunity to make an attempt at the Golden Core—provided it does not interfere with the grand design—if you are free to choose the location, we only hope you might lean toward our humble jurisdiction..."
*So they are after the golden nature...*
Li Zhouwei understood and gave a slight nod. Seeing Wang Long waving his hands repeatedly to shirk any notion of demanding it, the emissary added:
"By no means should you delay or compromise the matters above! If it is inconvenient, it matters not; we will surely have plenty of opportunities to meet in the days ahead. If we two can merely feast our eyes on your divine ability and witness your lordship's attainment... that would be the best of all!"
Speaking of this, even the sluggish Zhang Gui broke into a fawning smile. Setting down the great tome, he said respectfully:
"This matter can certainly be discussed... we only feared our presumption.
"Right now, there are still matters to attend to up north, so we shall not disturb you further."
After a few pleasantries, the two dissolved into two gusts of yin wind and vanished.
*It seems the Netherworld's methods... are no less profound...*
*Yang Tianya attained his divine ability even before Master Houfu, and to this day, no one knows what his cultivation level is. Lurking behind the scenes... even with the north and south fighting to such a degree, the entire Yang family keeps up an image of being utterly harmless to humans and beasts alike, and he hasn't made the slightest move.*
Compared to the northern clan's veiled tyranny and top-down control that cast its shadow across the entire realm, the Netherworld's methods were far more subtle, moistening everything in silence. Had the matter of Yang Tianya not been disclosed early on by the Netherworld, the Li family would still consider the Yang clan nothing more than a ruined royal house penned up on a mountain.
Yet upon careful reflection, the crux between the Yang and Li families lay in Li Xizhi's marriage. Could that be seen as the Yang clan having placed an early bet on the Li family? What about elsewhere—what other arrangements was Yang Tianya making?
*As the bloodline blending both the Yang and Li families... what role does Zhouluo's branch play under Qingchi's rule...?*
Li Zhouwei waited for a good while, then shook his head quietly and stopped dwelling on it. Confirming that the two had truly departed, his figure immediately dissolved into light. Having no time to pay visits to anyone, he merely traversed the Great Void and descended toward the lake.
He flew into the grand formation, weaving past towering dark pillars, and descended into the grand hall of the inner formation. There, standing amidst the dim hall, was a precious pagoda.
It was none other than the Xiaoyuan Glazed Pagoda.
With a single stride, he reached the pagoda's summit, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and silently recited the incantation:
*"Zhouwei, a scion of the Li clan, having ascended to a divine ability, of consummate virtue and complete merit... prays to ascend toward the heavenly mandate, to be inscribed with the profound talisman... to open the profound clarity and advance the Dao!"*
*Dong!*
A subtle sensation of weightlessness came over him at once. He felt the white pellet within his Shengyang Mansion leap, and his form instantly shrank. Before his eyes, an ethereal world veiled in mist and clouds suddenly emerged, while the back of his head grew icy cold.
The sight before him brightened abruptly—he had arrived inside a pavilion.
Gray stone and white jade, pure and bright lamplight. Li Zhouwei lifted his head slightly, his pupils reflecting the sight of the sun and moon shining together beyond the window. Feeling the dense spiritual qi washing over him, his heart shuddered:
*Such rich spiritual energy... such perfectly balanced spiritual atmosphere!*
*This is... the world within the mirror!*
Only now did he recall Li Ximing's meaningful expression from earlier. Overjoyed, he was struck by sudden realization:
"No wonder his lordship fought battles back to back yet still cultivated his divine abilities at such astonishing speed... With this realm in hand, how could one ever fear falling behind in cultivation!"
Li Zhouwei looked around, exceedingly satisfied, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief:
*Many of the risky items at home... can all be moved in here...*
He looked higher up again. A small jade bottle rested on the desk. In the center of the pavilion hung a painting of a soaring white sparrow. Li Zhouwei did not even need to sweep with his spiritual sense; a single glance with his golden eyes told him it was a cultivation method.
He stepped forward quickly, his golden eyes sweeping across, and took the jade bottle from the desk into his hand.
The jade bottle had a slightly long neck and a pure white body. The moment Li Zhouwei held it, he saw layers of hazy azure mist churning and drifting up and down within. Startled, he thought:
"An azure talisman of the Violet Palace?"
With just one look, the talisman seed within his Shengyang Mansion grew restless at once. Like the morning sun piercing through cloud banks, it rose amidst the layered Mingyang divine abilities, transforming into a beam of white light.
The azure mist locked tight inside the bottle seemed to answer a summons. Thread by thread, wisp by wisp, it leapt out, soon surging like floodwaters bursting a dam. Erupting forth and shifting into myriad anomalies, guided by the white light between his brows, it poured into the Shengyang Mansion!
Surprised and delighted, Li Zhouwei sat cross-legged immediately. A cool clarity spread through his Shengyang Mansion, and the Audience at the Heavenly Gate within him drank it like sweet nectar, stirring violently at once.
His cultivation skyrocketed!
The bright white heavenly gate within the Shengyang Mansion manifested at once. Distinct white patterns glowed with immaculate brilliance, rapidly growing ever more intricate, while all seventy-two ridges along the eaves shone brightly, unfurling and extending further.
The azure clouds surged through the Shengyang Mansion, creating a powerful vortex of attraction centered on itself. The radiance of the sun and moon at the center of this world, blended with spiritual energy, poured madly into his body. Yet this spiritual atmosphere of the world remained perfectly balanced—not a fraction too much, nor an iota too little. No matter how much he absorbed, the spiritual energy showed not the slightest sign of diminishing, seeming vast, boundless, and free for the taking.
As the spiritual energy swiftly converged and blended with the azure clouds to become divine ability magic power, it all descended upon the heavenly gate. In less than a quarter of an hour, Audience at the Heavenly Gate had reached perfection!
An azure talisman was the distilled essence of an entire Violet Palace. Even after tempering the divine ability, it was still far from exhausted.
The azure clouds in the Shengyang Mansion were far from done, continuing to pour wave after wave toward the divine ability. But with Audience at the Heavenly Gate perfected, the azure clouds had nowhere left to act; they could only accumulate, drifting back and forth amidst the white light.
Then, from the bottom of the Shengyang Mansion, the true form of the talisman seed surfaced. As if called, the azure clouds turned into a sea of azure light and gathered beneath the elixir, condensing into a long, narrow azure talisman. Faint and lusterless, it floated gently, anchoring itself above Audience at the Heavenly Gate.
The moment Li Zhouwei's spiritual sense touched it, he knew that with a mere thought, this object could instantly dissolve back into azure-cloud magic power to continue raising his cultivation!
*Once I master my next divine ability, I can continue using this remaining azure mist...*
His joy flashed for a fleeting moment, but he could spare no more attention for it now.
Between Li Zhouwei's brows, light shone as dazzling as a star, radiating sheets of golden hue. Like an old monk in deep meditation, his mind was pitch-black at first, but brightness soon arose from the dark. Strokes of white and gold emerged like the tip of a calligraphy brush, the two colors intertwining in ceaseless variation.
[Mingzhang Riyue]
This talisman could clear away demonic hindrances, carry on the heritage to maintain peace, manifest the might of Mingyang, and bind one's karmic mandate so that life and soul were anchored within a single mansion. Whenever locked in life-and-death combat, upon shattering divine abilities and thwarting demonic or Buddhist adversaries, it would resonate with one's life and soul, mirroring the sun, moon, heaven, and earth. It would cause magic power to surge within the Shengyang Mansion, granting a measure of daoxing!
*Daoxing? Elevating daoxing... this can be increased as well?!*
This was entirely different from Li Xizhi's Caiche Yunqu!
Li Xizhi's Caiche Yunqu was driven by status and noble prestige, allowing his spells to steadily strengthen over time. Though it also aided the growth of his daoxing, it did not directly increase it...
The matter of daoxing had an ancient history, profound and abstruse. It primarily reflected one's personal comprehension and insight into divine abilities, orthodoxies, and heritages. The deeper one's roots in a major sect's direct lineage and the longer one cultivated, the higher one's daoxing tended to be, and the more formidable one was in battle.
Daoxing was closely tied to the wonders of spells, complementing each other. Daoxing often encountered bottlenecks; learning spells could elevate daoxing initially, but unless one continually acquired more and more exquisite spells and spent time delving into them, daoxing would not necessarily keep rising. Yet an increase in daoxing invariably benefited the mastery of spells, the operation of divine abilities, and even the speed of cultivation.
This meant that if Li Zhouwei fought a bloody battle and vanquished a sufficiently powerful foe, the growth of his daoxing might surpass years of study by others! Furthermore, an increase in daoxing was by no means limited to combat. Once daoxing accumulated to a certain level, whether it was Audience at the Heavenly Gate or the Qianyang Bracelets, they would inevitably unleash a whole new brilliance in his hands! His grasp over the generative vitality, the harmonization of Mingyang, and the variations of divine abilities would all deepen.
It would even be of immense help toward seeking the Dao fruit and attaining the Golden Core!
And anchoring life and soul within a single mansion had an even greater purpose.
Bearing a karmic mandate, Li Zhouwei was often called the bloodline of Emperor Wei, and his dharma body was inherently superior. Ever since his breakthrough to the Violet Palace, he had experienced an indistinct epiphany...
Although he had not cultivated a body divine ability, the strength of his dharma body was already far superior to that of Li Ximing, who had likewise mastered Audience at the Heavenly Gate. The white blood in his veins could suppress evil and fiends; in particular, demonic magic power could hardly linger in his body and was dispelled far more quickly. Yet, just as more sophisticated arts were harder to cultivate, once his dharma body sustained damage, repairing it was vastly more difficult than it was for Li Ximing.
And what this talismanic qi did by binding his karmic mandate and anchoring his life and soul within a single mansion was to make his mandate more steadfast, harder to wound, refine, or deplete. His divine ability magic power became more concentrated within the Shengyang Mansion, meaning his reliance on his physical dharma body was diminished. He could manipulate it with greater freedom, neutralizing harm through various transformations—and even his healing became faster, slightly making up for that defect.
*In this way... it rather ceases to resemble the Path of Violet Palace and Golden Core, looking more like those Heavenly Embryo Demonic Paths in the north...*
This was undoubtedly a tremendous boost for combat. Li Zhouwei had never studied the Heavenly Embryo Demonic Path, though the Jiazi Soul Refining Halberd Technique in his hands bore more than a few traces of Great Liang.
As for the aspect of carrying on the heritage to maintain peace and manifesting the might of Mingyang, it pointed directly to Mingyang's essence of ruler and subject, father and son—where father and son aided yet also vied against each other. Many of these subtleties had nothing to do with combat or cultivation; at most, an increase in his cultivation could faintly lend support to his offspring, though the effect was subtle, with few other details.
As for the remaining effect of clearing away demonic hindrances, it was the smallest function of this talisman. It could elevate Mingyang's wonder of dispelling demons and eliminating evil to a higher plane. Reflected in his divine ability, it granted his dharma body stronger resistance against demonic arts. Though a decent aid, compared to the wonders mentioned before, it seemed almost negligible.
As this talismanic qi settled upon him, Li Zhouwei's face appeared even more majestic. Beams of golden light breathed between his brows, and the Shengyang Mansion remained cool and serene. After an unknown amount of time, he slowly opened his eyes.
In an instant, light filled the empty room. Those golden pupils gradually shifted from platinum to dark gold. The young man lightly placed a hand on his waist and brought out a jade slip:
*Precious Scripture of Body Guarding Tiger Pass*!
Chapter 909