Chapter 661: Fake Gold Position
"I’ve been waiting for you. You certainly know how to bide your time, True Monarch."
Xu Yunfan’s voice was calm.
The paleness from his bitter struggle in the Aitila Great Realm had yet to fade from True Monarch Qing Yuan’s face. His pupils contracted sharply at the words.
He moved to retract his Magical Power without a moment’s hesitation.
But it was too late.
In that instant, every trace of humanity vanished from Xu Yunfan’s eyes, leaving only a crystalline, absolute cold.
’Lin.’
The Lin True Word, the supreme secret technique of the Wansheng Sword Sect, erupted silently from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.
’Supreme Forgetting Emotions, only Dao Consciousness remains!’
At that moment, Xu Yunfan fully entered the Linn Character State.
This was one of the very few times he had used it since entering the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm.
His emotions and desires fell silent. Humanity was extinguished, and divinity arose in its place.
In his eyes, the vibrant facade of the world faded away, resolving into a pure structure woven from threads.
Flesh, blood, muscle, and bone. The surging Magical Power. The Dantian Cave Heaven. Even the descending Divine Sky Dao Fruit and the Immortal Palace Pure Qi lunging from True Monarch Qing Yuan...
Everything was transformed into a new kind of perception.
Under this state of absolute rationality and control,
his command over his Magical Power reached an atomic level of precision. The trajectory of every wisp of Divine Sky Thunderbolt was clearly reflected in his mind, and its consumption was reduced to an unbelievably infinitesimal amount.
His control over his physical body was now perfect. Every ounce of power from his Divine Sky Undying Dao Body was flawlessly coordinated and mobilized, with not a single trace wasted.
His tactical deductions moved with the cold precision of celestial orbits. Every detail of the battle became clear as the lines on his palm: the trajectory of True Monarch Qing Yuan’s Immortal Palace Pure Qi, the nodes where its power fluctuated, and even the sluggish points in the True Monarch’s own Magical Power circulation—remnants of his cross-realm journey and previous battles.
His mind raced at its peak, and the flow of external time seemed to stretch into infinity.
The very instant the Linn Character State descended upon him, Xu Yunfan’s thoughts moved like lightning. Without hesitation, he crushed the Moon Wheel Treasure Mirror he had painstakingly refined and hidden deep within the core of his Dantian Cave Heaven.
CRACK!
The crisp, cracking sound seemed to echo only in the depths of Xu Yunfan’s Divine Soul.
The core essence of the Taiyin Profound Mirror Dao Fruit, originating from the Celestial Realm and sealed within the mirror, erupted violently.
In an instant, a majestic power surged through Xu Yunfan’s entire body.
He had used the Artifact Refining Mastery honed through the Profound Capital Eight Sceneries Celestial Refining Creation Cloud Scripture to forcibly refine it into a single-use vessel, a means to achieve a Fake Gold Position.
And now, the time was right.
BUZZ!
The aura around Xu Yunfan erupted like a volcano that had lain dormant for ten thousand years. His power, which had been at the Foundation Establishment Limit—infinitely close to the Golden Core Realm yet qualitatively different—began to soar without end.
A vast pressure radiated outward like a tangible tide, briefly shaking even the pillar of lightning descending from the Divine Sky Dao Fruit.
The might of a Golden Core, falsely held.
A higher-dimensional perspective descended upon him.
The instant he achieved the Fake Gold Position, combined with the absolute rationality of the Linn Character State, Xu Yunfan’s perception of the world underwent a cataclysmic shift.
The Laws of Heaven and Earth were no longer abstruse, indecipherable scriptures, but a clearly visible, three-dimensional network of intersecting lines.
He was like a player standing at the edge of a colossal game board, watching the vibrations and connections of every "thread" upon it.
The layers of space became exceptionally clear. He could see the subtle ripples that True Monarch Qing Yuan’s Immortal Palace Pure Qi created in the fabric of space as it pierced through the void.
He saw through the essence of matter; mountains, rocks, and trees dissolved before his eyes into their fundamental composite particles and energy fluctuations.
The flow of time itself seemed to reveal a multi-dimensional trajectory. Fragments of past karma and the branching paths of possible futures flickered through his cold Divine Sense.
True Monarch Qing Yuan’s seemingly boundless Immortal Palace Pure Qi now revealed its subtle, weak points to his gaze.
The vast will descending from the Divine Sky Dao Fruit now looked more like a dazzling, precisely structured core built from countless Thunderbolt Law Runes.
This was the true perspective of a Golden Core True Monarch—a fleeting glimpse into the fundamental Rules of the world.
"What an outrageous waste!!"
True Monarch Qing Yuan was both shocked and furious.
It wasn’t just him. Throughout the entire Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, every True Monarch of the Golden Core Realm was watching the events in the Eastern Wilderness, some openly, some in secret.
When Xu Yunfan actually refined a complete Dao Fruit in this manner, many of the onlookers felt a pain so sharp they practically slapped their thighs in dismay.
This was especially true for True Monarch Pu Du, on the border of the Puchen Pure Land.
The corner of his eye twitched when he saw Xu Yunfan take out the single-use item refined from the Taiyin Profound Mirror Dao Fruit.
He found himself wondering if he should have the Great Awakening Bodhisattva make a trip to the Eastern Wilderness.
In the heart of the Eastern Wilderness, True Monarch Qing Yuan could never have imagined that Xu Yunfan would be willing to refine a complete Dao Fruit—a treasure that would make any True Monarch burn with envy—into a single-use consumable.
It was an absolute waste of a supreme treasure.
What shocked him even more was that his opponent had actually managed to briefly step into the Golden Core Realm by this method, and his aura was still rising!
The method used to achieve this Fake Gold Position was enough to prove that Xu Yunfan’s mastery in Artifact Refining was nothing short of divine.
Xu Yunfan had no intention of wasting this golden opportunity for insight, nor the explosive power that came with it.
In the Linn Character State, his heart was like a mirror of ice, perfectly still.
Empowered by the immense might of the Fake Gold Position, his three Talent Divine Techniques roared to life, operating at an unprecedented peak.
The Martial Arts Celestial Eye, the Dou Character Technique, and the Arctic Purple Star Suppressing Evil Qi.
With the three techniques stacked, his Golden Core aura climbed frantically. In the space of a single breath, he crossed the threshold of the Golden Core Early Stage and shot toward the edge of the Mid-Stage Golden Core.
Seeing Xu Yunfan’s instantaneous transformation, True Monarch Qing Yuan’s very soul trembled. He suddenly felt that perhaps he had chosen the wrong time to appear.
’Xu Yunfan had been waiting for me to make a move all along.’
「Wansheng Sword Sect, Celestial Pivot Peak.」
Lv Chunyang was meditating cross-legged atop a peak that pierced a sea of clouds. He sensed that the Wansheng Sword Sect’s few True Monarchs had settled down and that the Cangming Dao Fruit had been returned to its proper place, and he allowed himself to relax slightly.
Suddenly, his eyes flew open. Two beams of tangible sword light pierced the void as he gazed far off in the direction of the Eastern Wilderness.
"The Linn Character Technique?!"
For the first time, a look of shock appeared on his placid face. The depths of his eyes, which could pierce through the Ten Thousand Realms, reflected Xu Yunfan’s cold, emotionless state.
’To have cultivated this technique to such a level... And that power... Golden Core? No, that’s not right!’
With his insight, he instantly saw that the Gold Position was merely a false state sustained by the Taiyin Dao Fruit. Nevertheless, the power Xu Yunfan was displaying and the depth of his application of the Linn Character Technique still sent a tremor through him, the foremost authority on the Sword Dao in the Wansheng Sword Sect.
"This kid... he has more tricks up his sleeve than I imagined. A bold, all-or-nothing move!"
A smile couldn’t help but touch Lv Chunyang’s lips.
"The Linn Character Technique?!"
An alarmed and furious voice rang out beside him. It was the irate voice of the Eternal Celestial Light True Monarch of Arctic Peak, echoing in Lv Chunyang’s ear.
"Sect Leader Lv, even if you are fond of that disciple from the Taoist Sect, surely you wouldn’t go so far as to teach him this technique? This is a Spell left to us by the Daoist Lord of our Wansheng Sword Sect!"
Lv Chunyang didn’t so much as glance his way.
"I have never learned the Linn Character Technique myself. How could I have taught it to him?"
At this, he raised his head to look toward Phecda Peak and said calmly, "I recall that the Star-Pivot Sword Soul Profound True Monarch had a disciple named Yuu Congling. A thousand years ago, he entered the Divine Martial Realm to contend for the Divine Martial Dao Fruit. I imagine the technique must have leaked from that source."