Chapter 343
Chapter 343
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: N/A
Chapter Title: Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea, Sacred Fire Cliff
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Golden light surged from the earth at Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea, Sacred Fire Cliff. Lamps blazed brilliantly, illuminating dense, intricate patterns that bustled toward the center, converging on a single figure.
He was draped in a crane-feather cloak, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he lightly fanned himself with a feather fan, his bearing dashing and refined.
He merely stood there, as if he had seized all the fortune, wealth, and even luck between heaven and earth, involuntarily stirring resentment in the hearts of onlookers.
Daoist Hongyun!
Only now did this reincarnated True Lord finally reveal a trace of his former splendor, a nostalgic glint in his eyes as he gazed at the sky overhead.
“How long has it been?”
—Five thousand years!
For a full five thousand years, he hadn’t laid eyes on Covered Lamp Fire. Though a True Lord reincarnated, he had been as if abandoned by his fruit position, reduced to utter wretchedness.
At the thought, he ground his teeth. “Soaring Empyrean!”
In this moment, Hongyun’s hatred for Soaring Empyrean was like the endless roaring river—impossible to wash away.
After all, upon reclaiming the True Explanation of Cavernous Void Internal Contemplation of Heaven and Earth and Supreme Bright Golden Cup Jade Light, he had regained the memories that had been stripped from him.
There was nothing wrong with either technique. Hongyun had left hidden mechanisms within them to ensure only he could wield them and that no outsider could tamper with them. Otherwise, he never would have been so bold as to stake his bid for gold on them alone.
“Can’t get careless yet.”
Hongyun remained vigilant. He knew full well the massive impact his bid for gold had on Soaring Empyrean. The man would stop at nothing to thwart it.
And just then—
“Rumble!”
In the Jiangnan Gantang Dao’s cave-heaven fragment, as Chongguang activated the ritual instrument on his body, Hongyun immediately sensed Covered Lamp Fire’s gaze shift astray.
“Hm? Chongguang.”
Daoist Hongyun frowned. It wasn’t enough to spell outright failure, but the interference introduced unwelcome variables.
With that in mind, he glanced toward the figure standing nearby.
There stood the dignified and elegant True Lord Clear Serene Flying Snow, clad in courtly lady’s attire. She remained utterly unmoved by Chongguang’s intervention.
“Fellow Daoist... why?”
Hongyun couldn’t help but ask. She had clearly discarded Chongguang and placed her bet on him—why allow these petty disruptions?
To his surprise, True Lord Clear Serene Flying Snow offered no explanation. Instead, she shot him a disdainful glance before replying flatly,
“Rather than ask me, figure out how to reclaim the fruit position’s gaze swiftly. In the end, one must rely on oneself!”
“I need a fellow Daoist who’s of use.”
“Not some incompetent fool!”
The implication was clear: she had permitted Chongguang’s actions!
True, she had abandoned Chongguang as a pawn. Yet she hadn’t stopped him from seeking another path—in fact, she had tacitly allowed it!
Hongyun could only draw a deep breath and swallow his retort:
“Everything hangs on this path. A single misstep means total ruin. For something so crucial... and she’s still clinging to pointless stubbornness!”
“This... madwoman!”
Why did the world’s True Lords call True Lord Clear Serene Flying Snow a madwoman?
Merely for her love of combat? Her neurotic streak? Don’t make him laugh—the Primal Saint Sect teemed with such eccentrics; it hardly ranked.
No, the true reason was her principles!
She staunchly believed that “one must rely on oneself,” upholding this creed unwaveringly from Qi Refining through Foundation Establishment to Golden Core.
What kind of world was this?
One devoured others or was devoured. Those who rose to True Lord? Which of them didn’t lack a bottom line, treating principles as expendable?
Yet True Lord Clear Serene Flying Snow was different.
She actually had principles!
For the sake of those principles—for the convictions in her heart—she would even set her path aside. To Hongyun, it was utterly incomprehensible.
If that wasn’t madness, what was?
“Never mind.”
Hongyun took a deep breath and quickly regained his composure. “This place is already under the gaze of the various True Lords. No major issue. The advantage is still mine!”
But just then—
“Crack!”
A crisp snap echoed as boundless purple qi manifested in the vast northern skies, blotting out the heavens as it surged toward Hongyun!
The Netherworld, an unspeakable realm.
A palace nestled within the cycle of reincarnation, its structure profoundly peculiar. Its material was Kunshan Jade Fragment, a spiritual substance of the gold element.
It belonged to White Wax Gold.
Built from such matter, the palace intersected the light of sun and moon, condensing yin and yang qi. Its form was clear, its body pure—the true hue of gold—with the marvel of housing and nurturing forms.
Within flowed a long river, endless and boundless, without head or tail.
This was Eternal Flowing Water.
Gazing out, the river churned, its waves and swells encircling a hidden land of coiling dragons and serpents, cradling the entire palace aloft.
This was Sand-in-Earth.
Only upon entering the palace could one behold a golden lamp, its flame幽幽幽, illuminating the chamber and revealing a figure shrouded entirely in mist.
Covered Lamp Fire!
Four fruit powers intertwined in this domain: fire birthed earth, earth birthed gold, gold birthed water, water birthed wood... Together, they wove an unimaginable veil, brazenly defying the Netherworld’s operations. From the wheel of reincarnation, they carved out this modest territory.
Great Forest Wood!
“What a pity.”
Within the palace, Soaring Empyrean stood with hands clasped behind his back, the mist around him unrelenting. In his grasp, he toyed with a lifelike wooden puppet.
“Back then, I prepared this World-Reporting Dharma External Body purely as a contingency. I never imagined it would see use. The heroes of the world... so many indeed. Looking back, I was too hasty. Not enough contingencies.”
He couldn’t deny he was trapped in the Netherworld.
Yet this was his self-imposed bind in pursuit of Dao Lord advancement. It didn’t mean he couldn’t leave or lacked any means.
“With it, I can manage a trip.”
His true body couldn’t depart.
But under his empowerment, the World-Reporting Dharma External Body could unleash power far beyond mid-Golden Core—more than enough to thwart Hongyun.
“That said, it’s no substitute for my true self. Under the blockade of the world’s True Lords, I’ll need time to wear them down and find an opening to stop Hongyun. Without Chongguang buying me time, he might have slipped away by sheer luck.”
The pity was that the World-Reporting Dharma External Body could only be used once.
Once it ventured to the present world and clashed, its qi signature would pierce even perception barriers. Returning to the Netherworld, reincarnation itself would grind it to dust.
“...Fine. Time for a trip!”
“Rumble!”
Purple qi filled the skies, coalescing into a colossal, sky-obscuring eye that overlooked the world from on high before fixing dead on Hongyun.
Though Soaring Empyrean’s gaze locked onto Hongyun, even the ripples bore down with crushing pressure upon the world’s cultivators.
Even Lu Yang, far away in South Heaven Gate, felt it.
“As expected!”
Lu Yang looked skyward, unsurprised by Soaring Empyrean’s intervention. If anything, it was the very reason he’d foreseen Hongyun’s bid for gold failing.
He knew nothing of the World-Reporting Dharma External Body. But he knew that in his previous life, Soaring Empyrean had intervened for Chongguang’s own bid, single-handedly holding off multiple True Lords to a draw. If he could act then, there was no reason he couldn’t now.
‘My chance... has come!’
The next instant, light gleamed in Lu Yang’s eyes. Undoubtedly, every True Lord in the world now fixated solely on Hongyun’s bid.
No one would spare him a thought.
‘Time to reincarnate and deliver Proclaiming Gold to my true body!’