Your Spell Version is Too Low!

In silence, he put away the small, snow-white sword that held a wisp of Sword Intent from Vast Sea Dust True Monarch. He bent down and helped up the pale and weakened Qian Xin Master.

Their eyes met, and in each other’s gaze, they saw the same lingering terror.

Without another word, two Escape Lights flared to life. They shot toward the Wuji Holy Sect without a single glance back, vanishing over the horizon in an instant.

The Zombie Alliance ruins, which had once stirred the Northwest and drawn the greedy gazes of countless cultivators, had now become a true wasteland, a domain of utter death.

When Yellow Altar True Monarch moved to obliterate the crowd of cultivators, he had already plundered the ruins of all remaining treasures, Spiritual Materials, and even the undiscovered legacies hidden within.

The once-magnificent palaces were reduced to dust, and the intersecting Spiritual Mechanism of the Earth Veins was utterly depleted.

Even the unique soil, saturated with eons of Corpse Qi, had lost all its spiritual nature, becoming more barren than any desert in the mortal realm.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but miles of scorched earth and crumbling ruins. It was deathly silent, a land stripped of all value.

After Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master departed, the other surviving Foundation Establishment Masters finally snapped back to their senses.

Recalling the terror of having their lives hang on the whim of a True Monarch, they scattered to the winds.

Unleashing every technique at their disposal, they fled the cursed land with all possible speed.

In an instant, the former home of a sect that had once been a dominant power in the Northwest was deserted, save for a few Qi Refining Cultivators—those who were slower to react, weaker in their cultivation, or still lost in a daze of confusion.

The Qi Refining Cultivators gazed at the suddenly empty and desolate surroundings, at the wasteland now reduced to rubble and utterly devoid of Spiritual Qi. Their faces were masks of utter bewilderment.

...

「Taixu Mirror Heaven, Wuji Holy Sect.」

Only when Qi Yun and Qian Xin Master rode their Escape Lights through the vast, stable Grand Array of the Sect and truly set foot within the familiar, majestic bounds of Taixu Mirror Heaven’s Spiritual Mechanism did their constantly taut nerves finally, completely relax.

In unison, they both let out a long, deep breath of turbid air.

Halting their Escape Lights, they stood atop the clouds and met each other’s gaze. In their eyes was an unconcealed mix of chagrin and the profound relief of having survived a calamity.

They had indeed found opportunities on this trip to the Zombie Alliance, but the journey had been a hundred times more perilous than they could have ever imagined.

True Monarchs had appeared one after another, karma had been manipulated at will, and life and death had hung on the whims of others!

If Vast Sea Dust True Monarch of the Cyan Sect hadn’t arrived at the final moment with several other titans and driven off Yellow Altar True Monarch, the two of them would likely be nothing more than dust now, just like the cultivators who were erased, every trace of their existence wiped clean.

"I reaped quite a harvest on this trip. I’ll need to enter seclusion for a while to properly digest it all."

Qian Xin Master straightened his sleeves, which had been ruffled during the fierce battle and frantic escape. A measure of his usual composure returned to his face as he chuckled and said to Qi Yun.

"What I’ve gained, especially those drops of Undying True Blood, will require careful Refinement."

"After I emerge from seclusion, you and I can catch up properly."

"Safe travels, Master," Qi Yun said with a slight nod.

Qian Xin Master said no more. He cupped his hands in salute, then transformed into a hazy streak of Flowing Light and sped toward his personal Daoist temple, located deep within Mirror Heaven.

He was clearly eager to return to digest his gains and insights, and to calm his turbulent state of mind.

Watching Qian Xin Master depart, Qi Yun collected himself and transformed into a wisp of cyan cloud, drifting toward the Cyan Mountain Daoist Temple.

The cloud passed through the familiar landscape before descending into the silent courtyard.

The dead old tree still stood in the corner of the yard, the stone slabs were cool underfoot, and everything appeared just as it was when he had left.

Upon returning from his journey, he now carried within him several Blood Beads containing the essence of undyingness, an Ancient Bronze Cauldron of unknown origin, and his Magic had been updated several times.

The turmoil from the Zombie Alliance expedition seemed to have temporarily subsided with their return.

But the undercurrents in the Northwest had only grown more turbulent as a result of these events.

He closed the temple gate, shutting out the world.

Cyan Mountain Daoist Temple. The courtyard was silent.

Qi Yun sat cross-legged beneath the dead old tree. He didn’t immediately take stock of his gains from the Zombie Alliance, nor was he in a rush to refine the drops of Undying True Blood.

His mind was completely engrossed in scrutinizing and reflecting upon his own Dao Foundation.

After enduring the most perilous battle since his Foundation Establishment—one where he had come face-to-face with annihilation by a True Monarch—an undeniable problem had surfaced in his Dao Heart.

’My Venerable Dao Foundation... doesn’t seem all that powerful anymore.’

This wasn’t to say that his Dao Foundation was weakening.

On the contrary, his Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation was still as vast and majestic as ever, granting him Daluo Magical Power that far surpassed that of his peers.

The two Divine Techniques, Mastering All Skills and Daluo Decree, had indeed given him an absolute advantage over others at his level.

He could even overpower a veteran Master like Song Kun.

But that was as far as it went.

When facing the combined assault of three Masters from the Yellow Springs Netherworld, he had still needed to rely on the Human Emperor Banner and his own cunning.

And when faced with a True Monarch’s attempt to erase him at the level of causality, he was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter. If Vast Sea True Monarch hadn’t intervened in time, he would have been utterly destroyed, body and soul.

"If this is the extent of ’Venerable’... then it doesn’t quite live up to its reputation," Qi Yun muttered, his brow slightly furrowed.

He recalled the near-mythical descriptions of the Twelve Venerable Dao Foundations in the ancient texts.

They were said to reign supreme over all Daos, to be unrivaled in their realm, and to possess inconceivable might.

And yet, his own experience, while confirming its strength, fell far short of that "inconceivable," perception-shattering level of power.

’What I achieved is, without a doubt, a genuine Venerable Dao Foundation.’ He recalled the confirmations from Desolate Halberd True Monarch and Nan Dou Master, as well as the unique form of his own Dao Foundation and the way its superior status could suppress others.

Of that, there was no doubt.

’After all, a True Monarch confirmed it.’

’In that case, it’s not an issue with the Dao Foundation...’ His fingers slowly, unconsciously traced his brow bone as his gaze grew sharp and profound.

’Then... is it me?’

The problem was with him!

As he reviewed his cultivation journey, Qi Yun had a moment of sudden clarity.

His understanding of the Foundation Establishment Realm, his knowledge of how to utilize and unearth the power of a Dao Foundation—it all came from the secret texts of the Holy Sect and the personal instruction of Sect elders like Qian Xin Master and Nan Dou Master.

But the crux of the matter was this: whether it was the Sect’s secret archives or the Masters who had taught him... not a single one of them had ever achieved a Venerable Dao Foundation!

What they passed down was experience, Dharma Gates, and knowledge based on Upper Grade, Middle Vehicle, and Lower Grade Dao Foundations.

They could guide Qi Yun on how to wield Magical Power far beyond his peers, how to construct a Realm Heaven, and how to comprehend Divine Techniques.

Because they understood these "conventional" paths of Foundation Establishment.

But as for the true core power of a Venerable Dao Foundation—that which made it unique and set it above all conventions—they... had no way of knowing.

They had never set foot in that domain themselves, so naturally, they could not guide Qi Yun to unearth the deeper wellspring of power hidden beneath the "Venerable" halo.

How could they teach what they did not know?

’It was me... I haven’t unearthed the true power of the Venerable Dao Foundation.’

Qi Yun’s gaze hardened. A peal of thunder seemed to crash in the depths of his Dao Heart, illuminating the fog that obscured the path ahead.

All this time, he had perhaps only been using the "superficial" powers of his Venerable Dao Foundation in a more "advanced" way—wielding its more abundant Magical Power and its stronger Divine Techniques.

But as for *why* the Venerable Dao Foundation was "Venerable," as for the essential core that differentiated it from all other Dao Foundations, he had never truly grasped it.

’Then what *is* the true power of a Venerable Dao Foundation?’ Qi Yun’s brow slowly furrowed as he sank into a long, silent contemplation.

He no longer relied on external texts or the experience of others.

Instead, he turned his questing gaze completely inward, toward the Daluo Ten Thousand Laws Dao Foundation that hung high above his River of Heaven and Earth Years.

’A deeper level of Mastering All Skills?’

’Or the mysteries hidden within Daluo Heaven itself?’

No one could give him the answer.

This path to the true power of the "Venerable" was one he, its sole traveler, would have to forge and verify for himself.

In the courtyard, the wind whimpered, and the old tree’s dead branches swayed.

Qi Yun closed his eyes. His entire aura gradually settled, as if he had been sealed off from the world around him.

All of his Divine Sense and awareness sank into the Daluo Heaven that was his alone, a place that held infinite possibilities.

He sat as still as a stone, but his Divine Sense was stirring monstrous waves within his inner world, crashing against his unique Daluo Heaven again and again as he examined it.

’Mastering All Skills... In the end, it only masters skills that already exist.’ A thought streaked like lightning through Qi Yun’s nearly exhausted mind.

’Whether it’s Song Kun’s Sword Gang or Yellow Springs Master’s Yin Wind, they are all derived from their own Dao Foundations. They are ’skills’ that exist within the rules of this world.’

’I can grasp and use them, even turn them back on their user. It’s powerful, to be sure, but I have ultimately failed... to transcend them.’

’Then what about the Daluo Decree?’ He turned his thoughts to the even more profound Venerable Divine Technique. ’This technique can cause Magic to evolve.’

’But this evolution also seems to require a ’pre-existing’ framework.’

’It’s like forcing new branches to sprout from an existing trunk, not creating an entirely new tree out of thin air.’

The core of the problem seemed to lie in those two words: "already existing."

All this time, he had been using, controlling, and optimizing powers that "already existed."

This was powerful, to be sure, but it didn’t feel like... the true manifestation of a Venerable Dao Foundation’s ability to reign supreme over the Ten Thousand Laws.

’Supremacy shouldn’t just be about control and optimization.’

’It should be... definition and creation.’

His consciousness sank once more into his Daluo Heaven, a place that contained all of creation in potential, yet remained hazy and undeveloped.

This internal world was his Dao Foundation, his very core.

It was not a dead thing. It was slowly turning, giving birth to endless Dao Rhyme and the embryonic principles of cosmic law.

’If the true meaning of Daluo is to encompass all things, the Inference of Ten Thousand Skills...’

’Then where do these Ten Thousand Laws come from?’

’That’s it...’ Qi Yun’s tightly closed eyes trembled slightly.

An earth-shattering thought, like the first ray of light to pierce the primordial chaos, suddenly illuminated his entire Sea of Consciousness!

’Ordinary cultivators must comprehend the Daoist Intent of Heaven and Earth and learn the legacies of their predecessors before they can use Magic and Divine Techniques.’

’This is creating something from something that already exists, following established rules.’

’But my Daluo Heaven... is itself the embryonic source of the Ten Thousand Laws!’

’It isn’t empty; it contains the potential to evolve all ’skills’!’

’The true core mystery of the Daluo Myriad Skills isn’t about mastering the skills of the external world, but... creating ’something’ from ’nothing’.’

Creating a skill from no skill!

At this thought, the aura around Qi Yun’s body underwent a cataclysmic shift!

The dormant Daluo Heaven within him seemed to have been injected with a soul as it began to tremble with unprecedented intensity.

A flash of inspiration struck. He stopped trying to recall any existing Magic, stopped referencing any ancient texts.

Instead, he took his entire mind, his will, and his comprehension of various Daoist Intents, mixed them with his pure Daluo Magical Power, and brazenly poured it all into the very core of his Daluo Heaven!

He was going to... create a new Magic out of thin air!

...