Chapter 285
Chapter 285
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: The Descent of Longflow Water
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[Longflow Water] descends!
How terrifying was the fall of a fruit position? Almost simultaneously, every cultivator in the world who practiced [Longflow Water] felt an inexplicable sense of oppression.
Right above the Foundation Establishment Realm, the bitter sea churned with waves. The gathered Foundation Establishment True Persons looked up and vaguely saw a blurry blaze of incandescent white light shaped like a crescent moon—hazy and illusory, its true form indiscernible. They could only sense the vast, boundless aura of divine ability within it.
"Failed."
Lu Yang shook his head at the sight. This was clearly not the phenomenon of successful Golden Core ascension, even though Suo Huan had charged at the fruit position on that one-in-ten-thousand chance.
It was a pity—it had all come to naught.
Soon, Lu Yang spotted Suo Huan's figure amid the arcing light. His expression was dazed, as though he had witnessed something utterly inconceivable.
The next moment, this great cultivator from beyond the heavens suddenly burst into laughter. He threw his head back and guffawed in midair, his laughter shrill. The steady aura around him abruptly turned wildly volatile, his pitch-black eyes flushing scarlet with bloodlight. Everyone could hear his hysterical roar:
"Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!"
"Why treat me this way? My Huanxu Realm... I, Suo Huan! Hahaha! Suo Huan! Suo Huan! This Daoist title couldn't be more fitting!"
"My Lord! Come out!"
"I know you're watching!"
Amid his roars, centered on the slowly descending [Longflow Water], three heaven-spanning, earth-encompassing Golden Core Dharma bodies of immense grandeur materialized.
Suo Huan recognized the three Golden Core True Lords at once—they were the prime culprits behind the Dao-seizing war that had annihilated Huanxu Realm. In that instant, his laughter grew even more tragic. Back then, he had thought he escaped alive thanks to the realm heaven's aid, but now it seemed that wasn't the case!
"Gentlemen, the main course has arrived."
Laughter tinged the True Lords' voices as they echoed in a realm beyond the True Persons' perception:
"Amitabha. Buddha's mercy was not wasted in sparing this man back then. Today, the merits are fulfilled—we can finally guide this blessed land back into position."
"This person's golden nature belongs to me."
"Hands off the Saint Sect's share—don't get sloppy. We divide according to our prior agreement, or if tempers flare, no one eats tonight."
"Tsk."
The three Golden Core True Lords took their positions, their vast divine senses exchanging thoughts. They had long settled on a "distribution plan" and now moved in unison to restrain Suo Huan.
"The Pure Land granted me blessed land qualifications, so after my failure, the blessed land returns to the Pure Land. The Dao Court bolstered my cultivation, letting me forge golden nature—upon my death, the golden nature goes to the Dao Court. As for the Saint Sect, they wanted me to shake [Longflow Water], perhaps even draw it under their banner?"
This was a gluttonous feast.
He was the centerpiece on the table, with the Pure Land, Dao Court, and Saint Sect as the feasters. At this realization, Suo Huan's mad laughter gradually subsided.
He had seen this coming long ago.
From the moment he accepted aid from the three factions, he had foreseen failure—and this shared devouring afterward. It held no surprise.
What truly plunged him into despair was another figure.
The next instant, Suo Huan scanned his surroundings, gazing at the three Golden Core True Lords. He suddenly smiled.
"My Lord, after scheming all these years... what are you still waiting for?"
Boom!
In that instant, as if answering Suo Huan's call, an indescribably majestic aura erupted from the direction of Four Seas Gate's Dragon Palace!
"Hm?"
At this moment, the Foundation Establishment True Persons below whipped their heads around. Even the three True Lords carving up Suo Huan overhead revealed startled expressions:
"Ascension phenomenon?"
"Tian Qiu? No—he wasn't slain by Suo Huan? Without a fleshly body, just a remnant soul, how does he ascend? What fruit position skips the body entirely?"
In a flash, the three True Lords' minds raced through possibilities before landing on one conjecture. Almost simultaneously, Four Seas Gate's Dragon Palace gates yawned wide, unleashing a torrent of deathly qi. At its heart loomed a blurry dragon silhouette, slowly parting a gateway.
[Netherworld Mansion]!
What fruit position under heaven required no fleshly body? Naturally, the Netherworld Mansion—overseer of mortal reincarnation, endless cycles of rebirth! Those with bodies could scarcely enter the Netherworld!
Only souls could pass freely!
Ordinary souls were simply absorbed upon reincarnation by the Netherworld. Yet this Tian Qiu was forcibly prying open a gateway to the Netherworld!
"What is he up to?"
"Seeking ascension while unlocking the Netherworld... It's Angxiao! He's dragging a [fruit position] down via the Netherworld—Suo Huan was mere bait to distract us?"
"Tian Qiu is the true quarry!"
In that moment, the three True Lords beheld how Tian Qiu's aura surge lit a celestial star blazing overhead—the water-element fruit position [Heavenly River Water], hailed as: "Where qi ebbs and flows, in the exalted radiant fire position, waters abound as drenching rain to succor the fire's inner moisture—found only in the heavens."
Sovereign of the water path fruit positions!
This shift left the True Lords unable to stay seated. They struck at Tian Qiu in unison—only to be firmly barred by another towering dragon form.
Four Seas Gate, Dragon Lord!
This figure was an innate noble of old, Golden Core mid-stage, his cave heaven enduring unbroken. His longevity traced back to the founding era of the four great sects.
Just how weighty was that legacy?
Plainly put, he had laid eyes on the Dao Lord!
The present Dao Lord shunned appearances—even most Golden Core True Lords had never beheld the Dao Lord, unsure if male or female.
Yet Dragon Lord had.
Suppressed by all sides over the years, Dragon Lord had held at mid-stage without advancing to late, but that hardly meant weakness.
Now he acted: his colossal dragon form reared like an endless rampart without head or tail, interposed between the True Lords and Tian Qiu—like cleaving heaven from earth. The entire outer seas, boundless waters, resonated in that instant. Overhead, another fruit position star blazed forth.
[Great Sea Water]!
In bygone days, the true dragon clan ruled rivers, lakes, oceans—four of the six water fruit positions under their dominion, [Great Sea Water] reigning supreme.
But after the heavenly upheaval, true dragon glory faded.
[Great Sea Water] yielded its throne to [Heavenly River Water]; the other positions fell too. Of four Dragon Lords, one alone survived.
A grudge steeped in oceans of blood!
"All or nothing!"
Dragon Lord's strike signaled his resolve to stake everything—he knew the four sects' Dao Lords would ignore such affairs.
With his Golden Core mid-stage prowess, bolstered by that [Angxiao]... victory wasn't impossible!
It was then.
As Tian Qiu flung wide the [Netherworld Mansion] gates, endless deathly qi swirling, a tall figure with hands clasped behind his back quietly materialized in the doorway beyond.
His silhouette suggested a man, yet a veil of murk shrouded his features, rendering them inscrutable. Unlike other denizens of the [Netherworld Mansion], he bore a fleshly body! Vitality lay dormant, but that unshakeable solidity was no mere soul's illusion.
"What a banquet."
He offered a faint smile. A voice boomed—masculine yet feminine, aged yet youthful, defying age or gender:
"Why not let me claim a share as well?"
[Soaring Empyrean Sun-Obscuring True Lord]!
Before long, True Lords across the world sensed it anew.
In that instant, uncounted True Lords fixed their gazes, straining to pierce the hazy veil cloaking that enigmatic True Lord's face beyond the Netherworld gates.