Longevity by Grinding Skills

The Divine Sky Dao Fruit was already beginning to manifest in the world.

After all, the Divine Sky Dao Fruit had long been hidden from the world. Prying it from the Celestial Dao’s grasp to make it manifest again would require immense effort. Otherwise, why would Xu Yunfan have bothered performing a ritual to gather power?

’I wonder if killing a True Monarch would let the Dao Fruit instantly form...’

Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but mutter to himself, his eyes filled with anticipation as he gazed into the distance.

At that very moment, Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s Golden Body shook violently. The golden torrent of Wish Power surging between the roots of the Bodhi Holy Tree was being tainted by the Dark Gold Blood Thunder.

He watched as Wukong’s Eight-armed Wrathful Dharma Aspect fully solidified and the Prison-Suppressing Ming King’s Grotto Heaven Embryo began to frantically devour the illusory Buddha Country.

The Bodhisattva let out a shrill, angry roar. "The Zizai King Buddha Fruit Position is the culmination of ten thousand years of our Buddhist Sect’s efforts! How dare you demonic fiends defile it!"

"Demonic fiends?"

True Monarch Pu Du suddenly brought his fingers together and slit his palm. His Essence Blood transformed into a bloody Eight Trigrams symbol that merged with the barrier. "Back when you lot forcefully changed the Divine Martial Realm’s True Martial Demon Suppressing Scripture into the Fighting Buddha Scripture, why didn’t you speak of ’demonic fiends’ then?"

When they were vying for control of the Divine Martial Realm, the Primordial Sect had suffered a major loss, allowing the Puchen Pure Land to seize the Outer Dao Fruit Position associated with the True Martial Demon Suppressing Scripture.

This was the perfect opportunity to strike back and take revenge.

The bloody light of the barrier flared, turning the tables and pressing down on the illusory Buddha Country until it began to crack and splinter.

Seizing the opportunity, the ninety-nine Purple Gold Divine Dragons within the Eastern Wilderness ruins clamped down on the illusory Golden Core. Dao Patterns that could shatter the Ten Thousand Laws were branded upon the void.

"Too late!"

True Monarch Pu Du suddenly pulled back and retreated.

The Fighting King Buddha Fruit Position fully materialized with a demonic, baleful aura, and the Bloodstained Vajra Pestle pierced through the dome of the Buddha Country’s sky.

Meanwhile, the pillar of lightning from the Divine Sky Dao Fruit suddenly contracted, and a Dao Fruit slowly descended toward Xu Yunfan.

Xu Yunfan looked up. As his Magical Power surged, he began to raise his Grotto Heaven, sending it crashing toward the Dao Fruit.

Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s Thousand Hands Dharma Aspect disintegrated inch by inch, and cracks spiderwebbed across his Golden Body like fissures in porcelain.

But True Monarch Pu Du had already dissipated into a wisp of Pure Qi, his lingering voice the only thing left to echo through the mountains and rivers.

"The Earthly Buddha Country has become a pipe dream... If Great Awakening comes looking to assign blame, remember to tell them that Lv Chunyang forced me to choose the Eastern Wilderness."

With a mournful cry, Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s Thousand Hands Dharma Aspect shattered. A trickle of pale gold Buddha’s Blood seeped from the corner of his Golden Body’s mouth.

"XU! YUN! FAN!"

The Bodhisattva’s furious roar echoed across the lands of the Three Sects.

’It’s over. It’s all over.’

He watched with hatred as Wukong completed his transformation into the Fighting King Buddha and was baptized by the Fruit Position. Down below, Sanzang and the others were already struck speechless by the rapid turn of events.

"Wukong’s a Bodhisattva now?"

Pigsy stammered.

As for Sanzang, who had once been an earthly incarnation guided by the World Honored One Tathagata, he could only sigh deeply at the sight. He lowered his hands and silently recited a Buddha’s Name.

’In the end, the Daoist Lord of the Primordial Sect was a move ahead.’

Meanwhile, back in the ruins, Xu Yunfan’s true body was slowly rising into the air, meeting the descending lightning of the Divine Sky Dao Fruit.

Inside his Dantian, ninety-nine Purple Gold Divine Dragons clamped down on the illusory Golden Core. The undying imagery of "Shattering the Ten Thousand Laws, Upholding the Heavens" solidified into tangible Dao Patterns that branded themselves upon the void.

Today, the Divine Sky True Monarch would be born.

High above in the heavens, a rift silently tore open in the void. A disheveled and noticeably weakened True Monarch Qing Yuan shot out from within.

Just as he was about to return to the Primordial Sect, his body froze. He stared toward the Eastern Wilderness, his face a mask of utter, unexpected shock.

In that instant, how could he not realize what had happened? Xu Yunfan had used Aitira’s Three Great Main Gods to besiege and delay him, only to immediately attempt his own ascension upon returning to the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm.

If Xu Yunfan truly succeeded, True Monarch Qing Yuan would know no peace.

Given the hatred between them, even if a Primordial Sect Disciple valued profit over righteousness, there was no way he could let this incident slide.

Or, to be more precise, even if he could let it go, Xu Yunfan definitely would not.

Anyone who had provoked Xu Yunfan over the years had, for the most part, come to a bad end.

He had seen it all.

True Monarch Qing Yuan’s gaze pierced through an infinite distance, falling upon the skies above both the Eastern Wilderness and the Wansheng Sword Sect at the same time.

He saw the majestic Dao Rhymes of the Divine Sky Dao Fruit and the Cangming Dao Fruit manifesting at the same time. He could especially feel the supreme imagery forged from Xu Yunfan’s ninety-nine strands of Golden Nature, now on the verge of solidifying: "The Divine Sky Thunderbolt Shatters the Ten Thousand Laws; the Profound Vault Undying Upholds the Heavens."

A deeply complex expression finally crossed his ancient, dignified face—one of shock, greed, and above all, icy killing intent.

"What a man, this Xu Yunfan. And what a feat, ninety-nine strands of Golden Nature! To think you’d pull off such a grand deception, a classic feint. Using a Cause and Effect Secret Technique and your clone, Han Shi, to attract the favor of three great Dao Fruits at the same time."

True Monarch Qing Yuan murmured. A single glance was all it took for him to deduce the intricacies of the entire scheme.

"You sought to use the Puchen ritual to throw the Celestial Secrets into chaos, and use the Wansheng Sword Sect as a diversion, leaving us True Monarchs unable to spare the attention. All to create the one and only opportunity for your true body to ascend with the Divine Sky Dao Fruit? A fine calculation indeed! What a pity... what a pity I came back early."

If he were still tied up on Aitira fighting those Three Great Main Gods, the matter would have been settled by the time he got back, and it would have been too late to do anything.

But now... now, there was plenty he could do.

Simply put, he was at the Golden Core realm.

Until Xu Yunfan obtained a Dao Fruit and achieved the Golden Core realm, he was, despite possessing a Golden Core aura, still fundamentally at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Right now, Xu Yunfan’s true body was caught in the shadow of Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s Buddha Palm, under a destructive pressure that was causing space itself to freeze solid.

Although True Monarch Pu Du had enabled the Free-Form Combat transformation.

Wukong’s Dao Foundation Grotto Heaven crashed into the Dao Fruit, allowing him to attain the Fighting King Buddha Fruit Position and become a Bodhisattva.

But he paid Xu Yunfan no further mind.

His objective in this matter had been achieved. For the Primordial Sect, one more True Monarch wasn’t a huge gain, but one less would be even better.

The Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm only had so many resources. Besides, the more True Monarchs who achieved ascension, the more fiercely the Celestial Dao would resist.

So naturally, True Monarch Pu Du wasn’t going to offer any more help.

The fact that he had even gone so far as to kindly inject a stream of Pure Qi to boost Xu Yunfan made True Monarch Pu Du feel like he hadn’t performed a good deed in centuries. Today, it seemed, he had finally gone soft.

At this moment, Xu Yunfan’s expression was the very picture of calm. His eyes were fixed on one thing only: the Divine Sky Yuqing Nine Heavens Profound Vault Ten Thousand Transformations Undying Dao Fruit, which was growing ever clearer as it prepared to descend completely.

Inside his Dantian, the ninety-nine Purple Gold Divine Dragons roared. Amidst the endless lightning, the imagery of "Shattering the Ten Thousand Laws, Upholding the Heavens" rapidly solidified. It transformed into a pillar of thunder that pierced the heavens and the earth, aimed directly at the starry Dao Fruit high above.

He ignored Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s furious strike, pouring his entire Heart and Spirit, all his Destiny, and the terrifying power accumulated within his ninety-nine strands of Immortal Golden Nature into the final reception of the Divine Sky Dao Fruit.

"My Dao! Divine Sky to govern punishment, Profound Vault to uphold the heavens! Ten Thousand Transformations Core, be mine this day! Dao Fruit... COME!!!"

BOOM!

The majestic will descending from the Divine Sky Dao Fruit suddenly solidified. A brilliant pillar of light, thick as a mountain and composed of the pure Law of Thunderbolt, came crashing down, instantly tearing through the vast Buddha Light surrounding Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s sky-blotting Buddha Palm.

The pillar of light precisely enveloped Xu Yunfan’s true body, completely wrapping both him and his Profound Vault Undying imagery within it.

"Courting death!"

Wisdom Sun Bodhisattva’s hair stood on end with fury. The might of his Buddha Palm surged by another thirty percent as it shattered space itself, slamming viciously down upon the pillar of thunder!

DONG!

A deafening boom echoed throughout the entire Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm.

The golden Buddha Light and the Purple Gold Divine Thunder violently collided, annihilating one another. Rampant torrents of energy swept out in all directions, sending countless Dharma Guardian Vajras flying. The Bodhi Holy Tree swayed, and even its Glazed Buddha Light dimmed.