Chapter 202 - 195: Not Even the Heavens
[Automatic update complete. This is a major version update. The specific changes are as follows.]
[Trial Version Daluo Heaven has been removed.]
[Full Version Daluo Heaven is now active.]
Almost at the same instant this notification appeared, the resentful spirit of the former Daluo Master, whose neck was clutched by Qi Yun, let out a final, piercing shriek filled with indignation and despair.
His condensed form flickered violently, like a candle sputtering in the wind.
Finally, it could no longer maintain its shape.
With a "BANG," it completely burst apart!
This time, what burst forth was not simple energy.
It was the purest core Dao Essence, containing the source of his lifelong comprehension of [Daluo], along with the undying resentment that had plagued him for eons, now utterly crushed and refined!
This vast and pure source power, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, was uncontrollably and madly absorbed and devoured by the magnificent, resplendent, and nascent phantom of the [Daluo Heaven] Dao Foundation behind Qi Yun!
"BOOM—!!!"
The moment of fusion, Qi Yun’s entire body trembled violently!
Within his Purple Mansion, the nascent "Daluo Heaven" underwent a world-shaking, fundamental transformation!
Its originally hazy framework instantly became incomparably clear and stable.
Within this framework, the previously flowing Dao Rhyme and phantoms now began to truly evolve, to live and die!
Streams of primordial chaos separated into purity and turbidity.
The Star River began to flow along a tangible trajectory.
Yin Yang and the Five Elements were no longer mere symbols but had become the fundamental Laws supporting the operation of this "Cosmos"!
A Realm of "Perfection," "Freedom," and "Eternity" spontaneously arose from the depths of the [Daluo Heaven].
After completely refining and merging with the previous Daoist Master’s legacy Dao Essence and resentment, patching up the final flaw, he had at last completely obtained the Status of [Daluo].
His [Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation] was no longer merely imitating and constructing.
It had truly begun to operate on its own, evolve on its own, and perfect itself!
A Venerable Daoist Intent, far more vast, profound, and transcendent than ever before, awakened from its slumber.
It erupted from Qi Yun’s body, soaring into the heavens!
This Daoist Intent swept across the entire fragmented Land of Enlightenment.
Wherever it passed, the broken sky began to slowly mend, and life emerged from the barren land.
The aura of resentment and deathly stillness that had pervaded the land for countless years melted away and was purified, like snow under a scorching sun!
Success!
From this moment on, Qi Yun had truly established the supreme—the [Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation].
He slowly opened his eyes. The depths of his pupils no longer held a sharp glint.
Instead, they were as deep and tranquil as the cosmos, yet contained the endless mysteries of the birth and death of the Ten Thousand Laws.
He slightly raised his hand, feeling the immense power within his body that moved as an extension of his will, and the sense of freedom that transcended all constraints, Commanding All Skills.
Just as the [Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation] within Qi Yun fully stabilized, emanating a Venerable Daoist Intent of perfect freedom and Commanding All Skills...
The broken Dao Rhyme and residual consciousness that had belonged to the former Daoist Master, not yet fully dispersed in the surrounding Heaven and Earth, began to gather from all directions as if drawn by an unseen force.
Motes of light swirled and converged before Qi Yun.
Finally, they formed a slightly ethereal figure with a pure and tranquil disposition.
The figure’s face was no longer blurry. He had the appearance of a middle-aged Daoist, with well-defined features and clear, limpid eyes.
He exuded no oppressive aura whatsoever.
There was only a sense of peace and serenity that came from having witnessed the endless changes of the world.
He was like a clear spring in the mountains, or the bright moon in a forest—transcendent, unblemished by worldly dust.
He was a completely different person from the venomous and resentful "Daluo Master" from before.
This was the true being who had once ascended to the realm of [Daluo].
His original self, before being clouded by resentment.
"Fellow Daoist."
He spoke slowly, his voice gentle and warm, like a soft breeze caressing the strings of a qin.
Amid this tranquility, Qi Yun keenly sensed a faint, familiar feeling, as if from the same source within the Great Dao.
It was the natural resonance between the Dao Rhyme of [Daluo].
Gazing at the pure figure formed from countless wisps of wind, Qi Yun understood in his heart that this was the last, most authentic trace of the other’s Spiritual Light left in the world.
He slightly raised his hand and performed a simple Daoist bow:
"Fellow Daoist. Congratulations on attaining liberation today."
Hearing this, the spectral Daoist’s face broke into a frank and magnanimous smile, as if a burden of eons had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Hehehe...
Resentment clouded my heart, a foolish obsession for centuries.
In a daze, I committed many sins.
Today, thanks to your powerful assistance, Fellow Daoist, you have washed away old grievances with a new Dao, allowing my mind to regain clarity." He smiled and shook his head, his tone filled with release.
"My worldly ties are severed, my obsessions have vanished. It is time for me to enter reincarnation again."
His figure began to grow even more ethereal, specks of light starting to float upwards like fireflies.
"After we part today, who knows when we will meet again in the vast cycle of reincarnation." He looked at Qi Yun, his gaze clear and earnest.
"Before I depart, I have some words for you, as thanks for helping me find liberation, and also as... a belated realization."
At these words, Qi Yun’s expression shifted. His smile faded as he said solemnly:
"Please speak, Fellow Daoist."
The spectral Daoist’s gaze seemed to pierce through Qi Yun, looking into the distant void. His voice was ethereal and far-reaching as he spoke clearly, word by word:
"Life is a Daoist temple; a lotus grows from the mud;
Vanquish the thieves of the heart, and your own brilliance will form.
Now, the Venerable is me...
And all living beings are also me."
His voice lingered, not yet fully faded.
His figure, condensed from motes of light, had already completely faded, like rising Star Dust, slowly dissipating into the Heaven and Earth that his obsession had imprisoned for countless ages.
Watching the meaningful points of light gradually disperse until there was nothing left, Qi Yun’s eyes flickered, and he remained silent for a moment.
He carefully savored the last four lines of the verse, especially the final phrase, "The Venerable is me, and all living beings are also me."
The meaning contained within was profound, seeming to point toward some higher-level mystery of the [Daluo] realm.
Then, he slowly raised his hand again and, facing the empty space before him, gave a deep and solemn bow:
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist."
"May your journey... be safe!"
As the final speck of Spiritual Light, which contained the clear, true nature of the Daluo Master, completely dissipated between Heaven and Earth...
"OMMM—"
The entire fragmented [Land of Enlightenment] let out a long, sigh-like hum of release.
Immediately after, this [Land of Enlightenment] began to rapidly disintegrate and dissolve from its edges.
The cracks in the sky mended, the barren land dematerialized, and everything returned to the most primordial streams of chaos.
Then, even these streams slowly subsided, and finally... returned completely to nothingness.
Qi Yun felt the ground beneath his feet give way slightly as the surrounding scenery receded like a tide.
The next moment, with a flicker of his body, he was standing on solid ground once more, back in the ancient mountain cave behind Cyan Mountain Daoist Temple, where the strange phenomena had receded.
Before him was still the Array Map formed by three enormous and profound Talismans, with the nine-colored cloud qi slowly circulating above.
The [Daluo Dao Formation Land] had completed its final mission.
This special space, which existed only for it, naturally vanished into thin air.
Just as Qi Yun’s Heart and Spirit settled and he prepared to carefully experience the various wonders brought by the truly complete [Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation] within him...
An invisible, intangible, yet vast and majestic suction force descended without warning from the unseen heights.
Like countless invisible threads, it instantly wrapped around his entire body!
Qi Yun felt his body suddenly lighten. His feet lifted slightly off the ground, and he began to float uncontrollably.
A powerful upward force was dragging him, trying to pull him toward some unknown, mysterious location above the Nine Heavens.
"Hm?"
Feeling the abnormality in his body, Qi Yun furrowed his brow slightly.
He collected his Heart and Spirit and closed his eyes to concentrate.
He used his Divine Sense to communicate with the Venerable Dao Foundation he had just achieved.
He carefully sensed the source and intent of this power.
Just an instant later, he snapped his eyes open, his gaze filled with astonishment and a hint of gravity!
’This is bad.’
He muttered to himself, his tone laced with disbelief.
’My [Venerable Dao Foundation] is too domineering. Its Daoist Intent soars to the heavens.’
’I’ve only just established it, and Heaven and Earth has already sensed it and is starting to... urge me to immediately break through to the next realm!’
According to the common logic of cultivation, for a Qi Refining Cultivator to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, establishing a Dao Foundation is merely the first and most basic step.
The truly critical and incomparably dangerous step is, after the Dao Foundation is perfected and stabilized, to actively or through a Secret Skill trigger an ascension, allowing one’s Dao Foundation to carry the cultivator’s physical body and Divine Soul up into the ethereal [Foundation Establishment Realm Heaven].
Within that [Foundation Establishment Realm Heaven], a cultivator must undergo the great tribulation of wind and fire to cleanse their mortal body and bones, while the Dao Foundation itself must endure the scouring baptism of the tributaries of time to temper its immortal essence.
Only by successfully surviving the trials of these "three calamities of water, fire, and wind" can one shed their mortal coil and forge the body of a Master.
The Dao Foundation then fully merges with the Heaven and Earth Dao.
From then on, one steps into the Foundation Establishment Realm, a state of long life and Mighty Divine Power!
Normally, even after an ordinary Qi Refining Cultivator establishes a Dao Foundation, they would need a long period of nurturing and thorough preparation before actively attempting to trigger this step.
Heaven and Earth would not force the issue.
But Qi Yun’s [Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation] was simply too special, too tyrannical!
The level of Daoist Intent it contained was so high that the moment it left the self-contained "Land of Enlightenment,"
its very existence was like a blazing sun in the night sky, instantly and keenly locked onto by Heaven and Earth!
This corner of Heaven and Earth seemed "impatient" to witness the birth of a cultivator with a [Venerable Dao Foundation].
Or perhaps it was the Status of the Venerable Dao Foundation that triggered an automatic response from Heaven and Earth.
It was about to forcibly send him into the [Foundation Establishment Realm Heaven] to face his tribulation!
’My Dao Foundation has just been formed and hasn’t been nurtured to a state of flawless harmony. Facing a tribulation this hastily will multiply the danger!’ Qi Yun’s thoughts raced as he felt the ascending power grow stronger, his gaze heavy.
Just as Qi Yun was contemplating how to resolve this situation,
"HUMMM!"
A deep hum, one that seemed capable of suppressing the heavens, came from the highest point above!
The next moment,
A solid-black shadow, like a piece of the night sky falling from the nine heavens, suddenly descended.
It precisely enveloped and shielded the area of about ten feet around Qi Yun!
Under the cover of this black shadow, the tyrannical suction force of Heaven and Earth that had been wrapping around Qi Yun was instantly isolated and weakened by more than half.
Qi Yun, who had been on the verge of being torn through the air, felt his body lighten.
The involuntary ascending force abruptly vanished.
His feet landed firmly once more on the solid ground of the mountain cave.
Surprised, he raised his head to look.
There, at the zenith of the [Taixu Mirror Heaven], a Great Halberd—pitch-black, its design ancient and ferocious—stood suspended in the air!
The shaft of the halberd was dark and heavy, and a cold gleam capable of easily tearing the sky asunder flowed along its icy blade edge.
It did not emit any world-shaking aura.
It simply lay there quietly, yet it seemed to have become the center of this Heaven and Earth, before which even the Great Dao itself had to bow its head.
At the same time, a calm yet incomparably domineering voice rang beside Qi Yun’s ear.
"Polish your Dao Foundation properly. Without this True Monarch’s permission, no one can force you to undergo your tribulation."
"Not even the old man in the sky!"
...