Chapter 474
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Translator: Ace
Chapter:
Chapter Title: The Shock of Heavenly Fire
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Why was Hongyun shocked by Heavenly Fire?
The reason was simple. Like City Wall Earth, Heavenly Fire had almost no corresponding cultivation methods circulating in the world, so it had always remained hidden from sight.
However, the logic behind this was entirely different.
City Wall Earth was hidden away because the Zouyu royal family, who once controlled it, had physically severed all paths to cultivation on the material plane.
That was a man-made calamity.
Heavenly Fire, on the other hand, had faded away naturally.
The precondition for seeking gold with Heavenly Fire was far too demanding—ruling over the world. Such an outrageous requirement was no different from a completely severed path.
Thus, as time wore on, fewer and fewer Foundation Establishment cultivators practiced Heavenly Fire. The methods were lost one after another until they were utterly extinct in the modern era. After all, what Foundation Establishment cultivator didn't harbor some extravagant hope of seeking gold? Without that possibility, no amount of combat prowess mattered—it was nothing more than a reflection in water or a flower in a mirror.
Yet one thing was undeniable: Heavenly Fire was truly powerful!
Amid boundless mountains and seas, beneath sun and moon sharing the same sky, Lu Yang formed a seal with one hand. A brilliant speck of light bloomed at his fingertip, like the very axis of heaven and earth, with all creation bowing in reverence.
“Bright Lord Governance!”
This was the foundation of Lu Yang's natal divine ability. It manifested as the Light of Sovereign Rule, stripping away all phenomena. Empowered by Emperor's Command of Fate, it grew even more arcane.
In just four successive strikes, Hongyun lost two innate divine abilities, all his spirit treasures, and his vast reserves of magic power. He was reduced to a husk, utterly drained.
Meanwhile, Lu Yang reached the height of his power. With a mere thought, another divine ability descended upon him.
“Thunder's Gradual Subsidence!”
Empowered by the divine ability, his lips parted. Just like Hongyun before him, a thunderous roar erupted from Lu Yang's throat, unleashing a storm of roaring yang fire.
Hongyun nearly ground his teeth to dust at the sight.
That was *my* divine ability!
Stolen!
Even so, he dared not hesitate. With a flicker of intent, his dharma body detonated. In an instant, it transformed into a dazzling crimson beam of bloodlight shooting skyward.
He had self-detonated.
A radiant golden soul instantly fled into the Underworld. Its speed was such that only a mid-Golden Core true lord could hope to intercept it.
Lu Yang wasn't surprised by the sight. He simply stood his ground, empowering himself with Annals of Rise and Fall to dissolve the explosion's aftermath into nothingness.
Strictly speaking, if Lu Yang hadn't used Calamity Wave to elevate his being to late Foundation Establishment, a straight fight against Hongyun at equal realm would still have ended in victory—but not nearly this effortlessly. The ease of this triumph owed more to catching Hongyun completely off guard.
*He had no idea I cultivate Heavenly Fire.*
That was why he'd attacked with a wood-aspect divine ability—only to be countered by my noon-fire Return to the Primordial Palace. Once on the back foot, he could never recover.
Unfortunately, while Lu Yang could defeat him, he couldn't prevent Hongyun from taking his own life.
Without Angxiao's aid, even dispatching a String Puppet to tail him into the Underworld would make it hard to track him down or pinpoint his reincarnation site.
*Still, mission accomplished. He won't dare return to this old lair again. I've cut off that escape route for good.*
Lu Yang steadied his mind and glanced at his hand.
Under Bright Lord Governance, bathed in golden light, the divine abilities, magic power, and spirit treasures he'd stripped from Hongyun lay dormant and still.
As long as he maintained the arcane hold, they couldn't escape.
*But Bright Lord Governance has a limited capacity for stripping. Once it's full, it's useless—and holding onto this junk just wastes my quota.*
*Unless I truly verify Heavenly Fire. Then there might be no such limits.*
With that thought, Lu Yang released his hold on Hongyun's magic power and spirit treasures. He also dismissed Thunder's Gradual Subsidence, retaining only Root of Ten Thousand Things.
Spirit treasures were no issue. Even if he let go, with Hongyun reincarnated, they were masterless and would end up his anyway. Magic power was even less consequential. Thunder's Gradual Subsidence was a fine wood-aspect divine ability, but it was countered by his own power and thus negligible.
The only prize of real value was Root of Ten Thousand Things.
This was a Chen Earth divine ability—and unlike the Chen Earth abilities of today, Hongyun's had not been inverted!
It was still pure yang earth!
*I'll keep it. It may prove useful later. All that's left is that Jiangnan cave-heaven fragment.*
Lu Yang withdrew his divine ability and turned his gaze toward the Saint Sect.
He trusted that Uncle-Master Chongguang wouldn't let him down. He hadn't forgotten how ruthlessly Chongguang had blood-sacrificed the entire Qing Kingdom on a whim.
Lu Yang could even guess Chongguang's plan.
After all, he'd used the Book of a Hundred Lives to assay Chongguang himself. No one in the world understood the man better. A moment's empathy was all it took.
*The trigger... Ten Thousand Men Pit!*
Less than a month later, word arrived.
Sword Pavilion's Demon-Quelling Perfected Being personally descended on Ten Thousand Men Pit, driving out all Jiangbei cultivators. This sparked wild fluctuations in the Saint Sect's market for death-substituting puppets.
The Saint Sect soon responded.
Acting Sect Master Chongguang took the field personally. Perfected Being Pure Clarity Flying Snow emerged from seclusion amid great fanfare, as if gearing up for a full-scale orthodox-demon war between north and south.
Yet when everyone assumed the Saint Sect aimed to reclaim Ten Thousand Men Pit, Chongguang—now in Jiangnan—veered sharply toward Gantang Dao. The next instant, the long-gathering might of Perfected Being Pure Clarity Flying Snow unleashed itself. A beam of limpid radiance plunged abruptly from the vault of heaven.
No one saw the twist coming.
Ten Thousand Men Pit? Jiangbei cultivators? Saint Sect disciples? Chongguang ignored them entirely, treating them as pawns to be sacrificed—all to mask his true objective!
The Sword Pavilion true lords had prepared thoroughly. Their layout at Ten Thousand Men Pit was meant to claim the heterodox fruit positions of the Mysterious Spirit Realm for themselves.
Had Pure Clarity Flying Snow True Lord struck there, they would have moved to block as one.
But with their focus fixed on the pit, her sudden diversion left them a half-beat slow.
Compounding this, another Saint Sect true lord—Painted Silk Variegated Gauze True Lord—stepped in to obstruct, carving out a fleeting opening for Pure Clarity Flying Snow True Lord.
Boom!
The limpid radiance poured into Gantang Dao. The sprawling Tide-Chaser Li Clan barely had time to react before it was vaporized in the light.
“World-Purifying Light!?”
Horror dawned on the faces of Sword Pavilion's true lords. For this radiant beam was none other than the primal archetype of Ravine-Depths Water!
Ravine-Depths Water cherished purity above all. Thus the light—as its name implied—purged all filth from the world, restoring turbidity to clarity. What counted as pure or impure? That was the fruit position master's whim alone. To Pure Clarity Flying Snow True Lord, enemies were foul, allies pristine.
The light swept through, silencing all under heaven.
In Gantang Dao, the Tide-Chaser Li Clan's people and possessions evaporated first. In moments, every building and array formation dissolved into nothing.
It was as if no clan had ever stood there.
Next came the vast harbor's waters. A thriving port became a yawning crater in seconds, baring the seabed's secrets.
Beneath the piercing glow, the fragment of Eternal Radiance Treasure Light Cave-Heaven could hide no longer. It was forced into the open—but even Hongyun at his true lord stage couldn't match today's Pure Clarity Flying Snow True Lord. A mere fragment stood no chance. Inch by inch, it melted away!
The upheaval naturally roused Angxiao.
This fragment had been *his* trap for Hongyun, yet Pure Clarity Flying Snow True Lord's indiscriminate onslaught had pulverized it.
Angxiao: “...Huh?”
What just happened?