Chapter 462: Falsely Holding the Fruition of an External Dao! |
Falsely Holding the Fruition of an External Dao!
Dongting Lake, within the quiet chamber of the Dragon Palace.
Lu Yang sat cross-legged, his entire body flowing with a brilliance like that of the sun. Behind him, the glow slowly interwove, condensing into a phantasmal light and shadow.
【Xuandu Blessed Land】!
This blessed land, built at great expense by the Dragon Palace for Lu Yang, had now expanded to an unimaginable scale, even reaching the brink of a critical threshold.
‘Once I complete this life’s Foundation Establishment, and fuse the【Fiery Spirit Interweaving Light Dao Foundation】into it, I can immediately use this blessed land to seek【Heavenly Fire Above】. The only things hindering me now are flaws in my Dao cultivation and the ritual of【Govern All Under Heaven】to draw the gaze of【Heavenly Fire Above】.’
At this thought, a writing brush suddenly appeared in Lu Yang’s hand.
This was the brush he had taken from the Dragon Palace during its sacking—part of the Four Treasures of the Study needed to cultivate【Heavenly Fire Above】, each corresponding to a Heavenly Gang Earth Fiend.
The brush corresponded to【Wu Earth】.
Lu Yang held it in his hand without hesitation, directly sending【Wu Earth】into his Dao Foundation to refine it—he had already mastered this Heavenly Gang Earth Fiend to a deep degree.
After all, when he cultivated【City Head Earth】before, it too had begun with【Wu Earth】.
But this time was different. Last time, the innate divine ability【Embracing the Mountain】he refined from【Wu Earth】essentially corresponded to the【City Head Earth】fruit position.
Now, he aimed for a different concept.
‘【Wu Earth】is like clouds at sunset, borrowing the sun to appear—what remains of the sun. It corresponds to【Heavenly Fire Above】.’
‘When spring and summer energies stir, it spreads forth; in autumn and winter when energies rest, it collects inward. Thus【Wu Earth】is the minister of all things… This divine ability—’
‘—shall be named【Imperial Fate Master】.’
As this thought emerged, within his Foundation Establishment realm, Lu Yang’s【Fiery Spirit Interweaving Light Dao Foundation】suddenly lit with a point of golden light, flooding his divine sense and soul in an instant!
After a long while, Lu Yang formed a seal and slowly opened his eyes—his once-plain gaze now shone with brilliant golden rays. This divine ability named【Imperial Fate Master】was no mere boast; it truly could govern fate and make lives resonate with its will!
‘If paired with my innate divine ability【People Without Guile】…’
‘With【People Without Guile】to define the rules, and【Imperial Fate Master】to determine destinies, I could likely push the binding power of rules to their utmost limit!’
If the gap between them was large enough, he might even cause someone to commit suicide with a single sentence.
When the ruler wants the subject dead, the subject cannot but die!
“Amazing.”
Lu Yang exhaled deeply, withdrew all his divine powers, and turned to the Ancestor Tingyou who had been guarding him. Smiling, he asked, “Ancestor, how goes your comprehension?”
Before his reboot, he had asked Ancestor Tingyou to help comprehend a way to fuse【Seven Luminaries Heaven】with the【Sword Dao Fruitional Rank】, even temporarily lending the【Yama Palace】falsely-held golden position for use. With Ancestor Tingyou’s insight, he ought to have made progress by now.
As expected—
“There’s a lead.”
Ancestor Tingyou’s expression was grave as he spoke in a low voice, “But it’s just a rough draft. To truly cultivate it into a second-grade true art will still take time.”
“But I’ve come up with something else along the way—something that’s far more useful to you right now.”
As his words fell, Ancestor Tingyou extracted a wisp of divine sense. Lu Yang accepted it, swept through it with his divine awareness—and was briefly stunned.
“This is…”
The method of the【Yama Palace】.
However, the content had been greatly revised. Though it still required nine Foundation Establishment cultivators at perfection, it no longer demanded golden nature, and had lowered the standard for false holding.
The revised【Yama Palace】could no longer falsely hold local fruit positions.
In exchange, it could now falsely hold external fruit positions!
“I recall you once mentioned the idea of falsely holding external positions, so I helped deduce it. External Dao positions are far easier than local ones.”
As Ancestor Tingyou finished, Lu Yang’s emotions surged.
He had mentioned it—but hadn’t expected Ancestor Tingyou to remember it silently, and even proactively deduce it before he had to ask.
Truly worthy of my world-shaking brilliance!
“The new【Yama Palace】method lets you falsely hold【Seven Luminaries Heaven】. Now that it’s complete, it can support the Fruitional Rank of a True Lord.”
Ancestor Tingyou explained fluently, “Since【Seven Luminaries Heaven】is an external Dao position and golden nature pertains to local ones, external positions aren’t as stringent. So with the new【Yama Palace】, you no longer need to expend your golden nature—but in return, it will place immense strain on you.”
At this point, Ancestor Tingyou’s face turned solemn.
He then raised one finger. “Only once. With the current strength of your Dao Foundation, you can falsely hold only once. Afterwards, it can be mended.”
“Second time, at best your foundation shatters and your Dao path is severed; at worst, you drop dead on the spot.”
“Third time—certain death!”
Ancestor Tingyou spoke gravely, and Lu Yang solemnly nodded. “I understand. Once is already plenty—at a critical moment, it could be a miracle!”
In an instant, Lu Yang felt much more at ease.
After his reboot, his cultivation returned to square one. Especially losing the omnipotent sense of falsely holding the golden position left him uneasy.
But now—his confidence had returned.
Stowing away Ancestor Tingyou, Lu Yang tidied his appearance, left the quiet chamber, and after a moment’s thought, quickly devised his next move.
‘This is the good thing about the Dao Court…’
‘Without backing, one can never rise. With backing, three promotions in one day and soaring success are just routine—all depends on the ones above.’
That made things simple.
Lu Yang planned to present the Dao Court a grand gift—one great enough to earn him immense merit and propel him straight into a high position!
But before that, he needed a sponsor.
Dao Court, Southern Suppression King’s Estate.
Wu Taian was meditating within a quiet chamber when a servant arrived to report something unexpected: “The Dragon King of Dongting is here to visit?”
As the Southern Suppression King of the Dao Court, the Heavenly Son’s own brother, and a rank-one prince, he was well aware of the cooperation between the True Dragon Clan and the Dao Court. But he couldn’t fathom—what business did they have with him?
Surely they weren’t trying to pull strings through him?
At that thought, Wu Taian immediately revealed displeasure.
Not because they sought favors—such things could be done discreetly! But to visit openly—how was he supposed to accept the bribe now?
What of my good reputation?!
‘Barbarians from overseas, lacking all decorum…’
Wu Taian grumbled inwardly, but maintained a well-mannered facade, instructing that the guest be brought to the reception hall. He decided to see what the dragon race was up to.
Moments later, footsteps echoed outside the door.
“Hmm?”
Instantly, the previously casual Wu Taian’s brows rose. A sudden premonition stirred within his Foundation Establishment-perfected senses—a hint of danger.
He immediately became serious.
Then, a heroic young man entered. His features carried a draconic ferocity, yet his face bore a gentle smile.
“Sorry to keep the Prince waiting.”
Before Wu Taian could speak, Lu Yang proactively bowed with full courtesy, lacking any trace of the pride of a heavenly noble or True Dragon.
With such behavior, Wu Taian couldn’t keep his stern face and quickly rose to return the greeting.
After all, while the other party could be humble, he stood behind a mid-Golden Core Dragon Monarch. If Wu Taian didn’t show respect in return, he’d be showing his lack of decorum.
“I wonder what brings the Dragon King to seek this prince?”
“Replying to Your Highness,”
Lu Yang’s tone was solemn as he directly produced the incense-path cultivation method of【Seven Luminaries Heaven】, and declared with gravity, “I have found a Dao method of great benefit to the Dao Court.”
“I wish to present it to the Dao Court Heavenly Son!”