Chapter 891 Come Lift Me Up, Zhang Yu
“The ten great sects… does each of them grasp the cornerstone of the world?”
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Coupled with the so-called Supreme Immortal Artifacts… I’m afraid every sect has the ability to overturn Kunxu, trigger a great tribulation, and even destroy the world. This is even more terrifying than Earth’s so-called nuclear deterrence; it should probably be called Dao Lineage deterrence, right?”
Immortal Slayer said, “It is precisely because every single one of the ten great sects has the ability to flip the table that a certain degree of peace can be maintained between them. All kinds of struggles are kept at a certain level of intensity, remaining within the controllable range of the ten Immortal Emperors.”
“But because of this, the entire world is jointly controlled by the ten great sects. For generations upon generations, they are nothing but resources for the Immortal Emperors, and the common people of the world will never see the day they can turn their lives around.”
Hearing this, Fu Ji said disdainfully, “What’s all this about turning their lives around? Without the ten Immortal Emperors and the ten great sects, could those pieces of trash at the bottom turn things around? Keep dreaming! No matter how the environment changes, there will always be trash in this world, so why can’t it be them?”
In Zhang Yu’s mind, all sorts of arguments continued endlessly, while Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable’s video lecture also went on.
Through this continuous learning, Zhang Yu gradually came to understand why they, the cultivators participating in Law Establishment, were made to learn technologies related to immortal aura.
“To achieve a Dao Lineage, the ultimate goal is to transform the Dao Lineage into world rules, making it a part of the heavenly principles.”
“But trying to achieve a Dao Lineage all at once is too difficult. Especially with the development of history and the continuous increase in the number of Dao Lineages in the world, the difficulty of achieving a new Dao Lineage becomes higher and higher.”
Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable in the video introduced, “Therefore, Immortals of past generations delved into various Immortal Dao Technologies, constantly trying to lower the difficulty of achieving a Dao Lineage. During this period, one technical route after another for achieving a Dao Lineage was born.”
“The Law Edict technology you will learn next is one of them. This technical route is upright and peaceful, advancing step by step with a moderate difficulty curve. It was decided upon after the ten Immortal Emperors deliberated on it together.”
“In addition to this, once a Dao Lineage is established, it easily affects the entire world and stirs up the realm. Therefore, one must be extremely cautious.”
Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable spoke with deep emotion in the projection, “The various Dao Lineages from the ancient era, such as the Immortal Qi Dao Lineage, the Dao Heart Dao Lineage, the Spiritual Energy Dao Lineage… many involved the foundations of the world, yet due to a lack of careful consideration, they triggered consecutive great disasters.”
“But the Law Edict technological route nurtures Law Edicts before establishing a Dao Lineage. This provides ample testing time and opportunities for correction. It is much more controllable, and the margin for error is greatly increased.”
Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable finally explained, “Therefore… considering both difficulty and safety, the ten great sects have chosen the Law Edict technology as the primary technological route for establishing Dao Lineages.”
Listening to Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable’s words, Desolate Ox, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly spoke in Zhang Yu’s mind. “Indeed, through Law Establishment technology, allowing Law Edicts to operate as the prototype of a Dao Lineage turns society into a testing environment.”
“And through the testing of countless people, the flaws in the Law Edicts are constantly corrected, avoiding the unpredictable consequences of establishing a Dao Lineage straight away.”
Desolate Ox sighed, “At least when it comes to maintaining the safety of the world, the ten great sects have indeed made undeniable contributions. If various Immortal Dao Technologies and Dao Lineages were allowed to develop recklessly, I’m afraid the entire world would head towards collapse.”
Immortal Slayer said, “It is not just about safety. The Law Edict technological route also makes it more convenient for major Dao Lineages to engage in a game of interests. It reduces the intensity of the Dao Lineage Struggle — which used to be direct collisions between Dao Lineages — down to a game between Law Edicts and a competition among Law Establishers…”
Listening to their conversation, Zhang Yu nodded slightly in his heart and continued to listen to Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable’s explanation.
In Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable’s account, although the ten great sects were all taking the Law Edict technological route, the specific technical details were different. The methods each sect used to achieve law establishment had significant distinctions.
And the reason why knowledge regarding immortal aura had to be taught was because… the law establishment process of the Myriad Laws Sect was deeply related to immortal aura.
Zhang Yu summarized in his mind, “The immortal aura exists in all things in the world and is a part of the world’s foundation. The law establishment technology of the Myriad Laws Sect is to embed Law Edicts through the immortal aura, accomplishing a gradual influence over the world’s foundation to ultimately achieve interference with all things.”
“The Immortal Qi Dao Tradition is like a walking stick, assisting the cultivators of the Myriad Laws Sect in completing law establishment. When the Dao Lineage is finally achieved, they will cast aside this walking stick and become an independent Dao Lineage.”
Desolate Ox analyzed, “The Myriad Laws Sect takes the immortal aura route to realize law establishment, which places the legislative power of the entire sect in the hands of the owner of the Immortal Qi Dao Tradition. Only when a Law Edict truly becomes a Dao Lineage can it break free from the constraints of the Immortal Qi Dao Tradition.”
“And the other sects also have their own methods, rooted in different world foundations… They all similarly achieve the goal of controlling legislative power.”
Although he had long grown accustomed to this extreme order in Kunxu, Zhang Yu still couldn’t help but sigh inwardly at this moment, “It truly is… layer upon layer of constraints.”
The Sect Examination Clone, however, snorted coldly and said, “How could it work without constraints? Legislative power, Law Edicts, Dao Lineages… these are all so important. They are things that can easily affect the world. If Grandpa Immortal Emperor hadn’t exhausted his efforts to come up with various methods to control them, how could the safety of the world be guaranteed?”
“Speaking up to this point,” the Sect Examination Clone had a look of deep emotion on his face, “Grandpa Immortal Emperor has to ensure the sect’s competitiveness to contend with other sects, while also maintaining the peace and safety of the world. Carrying the entire Myriad Laws Sect on his shoulders, just thinking about it makes one realize how truly difficult it is for him.”
Zhang Yu then thought of Immortal Venerable Profound Wisdom. “The Immortal Qi Dao Tradition is the foundation of all Law Edicts in the Myriad Laws Sect. It seems that Immortal Venerable Profound Wisdom’s authority is far greater than I previously expected. Why would such a powerful Immortal Venerable show me so much goodwill before? Is it her personal habit? Or does she have ulterior motives?”
At the same time, Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable’s explanation reached a crucial moment as he began to teach how to observe the immortal aura within all things in the world.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “This so-called observation of immortal aura is similar to observing molecules, atoms, and electrons on Earth, right? It requires using Immortal Dao Technology to observe that… immortal aura which has always existed in all things in the world, yet is difficult for ordinary people to discover.”
According to Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable’s teachings, this immortal aura hidden within all things was known as hidden Immortal Qi.
As for the immortal aura buffs that Zhang Yu could come into contact with and enjoy in the sect environment on a daily basis, that was manifested Immortal Qi.
Only by refining hidden Immortal Qi into manifested Immortal Qi can there be various enhancing effects, and as the concentration of manifested Immortal Qi increases, the effects become increasingly powerful.
“And obviously… the immortal aura that the Law Edict needs to embed into is the hidden Immortal Qi found within all things. Therefore, to complete Law Establishment, the first step… is to be able to observe this hidden Immortal Qi.”
He cast a glance around and saw cultivators starting the process of observing the immortal aura according to the teachings of Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable, causing Zhang Yu to let out a bitter smile.
“To observe hidden Immortal Qi… one needs to at least be at the Void Refinement Realm. Right now, I can only watch helplessly.”
For the subsequent teachings related to the immortal aura, Zhang Yu could only temporarily commit the knowledge to memory. The actual practical application would have to wait until five days later, after he broke through to the Void Refinement Realm.
Right at this moment, Heavenly Fortune Immortal Venerable had already begun teaching the methods for refining the immortal aura.
As Zhang Yu studied, he summarized, “Martial arts, daoist arts, and perhaps magical artifacts, Bionics, even medicinal pills… there are many methods to refine the immortal aura. The major factions have all summarized their own methods.”
Just then, Zhang Yu suddenly sensed a sudden change in the environment.
The next moment, he jerked his head up and looked toward the source of this change.
He saw the representative of the Dharma Realm Dao Lineage, the Rank 8 Sect Staff Lie Jinghong, gently raise a finger. Streams of rich, milky-white immortal aura… were continuously gathering at his fingertip.
“He succeeded?” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “He extracted the hidden Immortal Qi that exists within all things in the world and is originally invisible to the naked eye, refining it into manifested Immortal Qi that can be seen and used on cultivators.”
Zhang Yu glanced at the time. “It’s only been a minute since the explanation started, right? And he’s already done?”
At the same time, Tai Yuebai also looked over at Lie Jinghong, judging in his heart: “He didn’t use a magical artifact or a Bionic. It looks like he completed the immortal aura extraction through a cultivation art.”
Tai Yuebai guessed in his mind: “To finish cultivating a cultivation art so quickly, is it simply because Lie Jinghong has good innate talent? Or could it be that one of his two hidden Dao Seeds is related to cultivation art training?”
Right at this moment, Zhang Yu saw… on the other side, the representative of the Innate Dao Lineage, Di Xuan, had similarly completed his cultivation art extraction.
Tai Yuebai also turned his head to stare intently at Di Xuan, thinking to himself, “It’s not a cultivation art, it seems to be a Bionic. However, Di Xuan’s original Bionic shouldn’t have an immortal aura refinement function. That means… he just modified his Bionic right now, improving it to have the immortal aura refinement function.”
Tai Yuebai immediately recorded this intelligence and guessed in his heart, “Is one of Di Xuan’s two Dao Seeds related to artifact refinement, or Bionics?”
Just as Tai Yuebai was looking back and forth, Bu Yingshu at the side suddenly exhaled a slow breath of immortal aura and said calmly, “Refining immortal aura is as easy as flipping my hand.”
Tai Yuebai’s gaze swept over Bu Yingshu as he thought to himself, “It’s the [Myriad Laws Immortal Clan], right? What a great Dao Seed. Even among this group of heavenly chosen, based on the Dao Seed rankings I currently know of, it’s enough to rank in the top five. What a pity…”
Reluctantly tearing his gaze away from Bu Yingshu, Tai Yuebai resumed observing the others’ performance in refining immortal aura.
As he observed, he marveled in his heart, “If it were any other time, how could I ever get such an opportunity to observe the true bodies of so many geniuses bearing Dao Seeds all at once, observe their performance, and collect intelligence on them…”
Right at this moment, his gaze flickered slightly. He looked at Zhang Yu beside him and smiled, “Is something the matter, Little Zhang?”
Ever since Lie Jinghong became the first to complete the refining of Immortal Qi, Fu Ji had a feeling in her heart.
“Tai Yuebai looking left and right, glancing all over the place… it looks too much like what you do, Zhang Yu, doesn’t it? What are you guys looking at?”
Hearing Fu Ji’s words, Zhang Yu was also slightly taken aback in his mind: “I’m observing the Dao Seeds. What is Tai Yuebai looking at?”
Turning his head to look at Tai Yuebai’s actions, Zhang Yu secretly thought, “Is he gathering intelligence? This guy… I always get the feeling he especially loves collecting intelligence.”
Responding to Tai Yuebai’s question, Zhang Yu said casually, “Dao Lord Tai seems to care a lot about the performance of others?”
Tai Yuebai nodded and said, “After the official law establishment begins, some of these people will become our allies, while others will become enemies. I’m just gathering more intelligence on them in advance.”
Right at this moment, Bu Yingshu came over from the side and said, “Little Yu, you don’t need to be afraid if your strength is lacking. I’ve got you covered. You just need to obediently support me during the law establishment.”
After saying that, Bu Yingshu even gave Tai Yuebai a challenging look, as if to say that Zhang Yu was following her lead this time, not Tai Yuebai’s.
Tai Yuebai, however, smiled faintly and said, “Dao Monarch Bu, the Primordial Chaos Dao Lineage you support shares many concepts with ours, and I have always been very supportive of it. For this law establishment… there should be a foundation for cooperation between us.”
Bu Yingshu said, “What? You also want to elevate me?”
Tai Yuebai said, “Not elevate, but mutually cooperate and benefit each other.”
After just a short ten-odd minutes, everyone on the scene had completed their immortal aura refinement, except for Zhang Yu, who was still in the Spirit Transformation Realm.
Zhang Yu observed Tai Yuebai for a moment and found that the other party was among the last dozen or so to complete the immortal aura refinement.
Right after the morning’s immortal aura course was completed, the location for the afternoon class was a conference room.
Inside the conference room were small tables, and on both sides of each small table, two chairs could be seen.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Is this going to be a one-on-one conversation?”
And the moment he entered the conference room, a line of information floated before Zhang Yu’s eyes, which was exactly the fourth rule of the Law-Knowing Abode: Please do not lie in the conference room.
At the same time, the crowd was randomly assigned to different seats in the conference room.
Zhang Yu looked at the cultivator sitting in front of him; impressively, it was the representative of the High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits, Cang Juehuan, who had competed with Zhang Yu for the Extraordinary Merit last time.
The content of this next session was for the randomly assigned pairs to begin exchanging their law establishment goals.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Cannot lie? Does that mean everyone must have some understanding of the others’ law establishment goals before the formal law establishment begins?”
Just as Zhang Yu was secretly pondering, Cang Juehuan, who sat before him, had already spoken. “Minister Zhang, I’ve heard a lot about you. I didn’t expect that you, who is still in the Spirit Transformation Realm, would also come to participate in this law establishment.”
Just as Zhang Yu thought the other party was going to belittle him, he heard Cang Juehuan say, “To be honest, I admire you very much.”
Under Zhang Yu’s surprised gaze, Cang Juehuan continued, “If it were me, whether it was being born in the First Layer or holding the Salary Raise Authority, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to do as well as you have.”
“But for you to be sent here together with Tai Yuebai while still in the Spirit Transformation Realm, it must mean they hope you can prop up Tai Yuebai, right?”
In Cang Juehuan’s eyes, Zhang Yu — who was currently only at the Spirit Transformation Realm and still needed a few days to break through to Void Refinement — was destined to be merely a supporting character in this Law Establishment.
But precisely because of this, the other party also became an excellent stepping stone in his eyes.
If the other party could elevate Tai Yuebai, why couldn’t he elevate him instead?
Especially since the other party possessed an Extraordinary Merit… If he could win the other party over, it would make up for Cang Juehuan’s loss of not being awarded the Extraordinary Merit last time.
“Once Zhang Yu enters the arena with his current cultivation, he is destined to become a stepping stone.”
“I will trample him underfoot to complete my Law Edict.”
Thinking of this, Cang Juehuan smiled and said, “How about coming to help us?”
Seemingly noticing Zhang Yu’s surprised gaze, Cang Juehuan explained, “Do you think the Reformist Faction is really worth entrusting yourself to? How much effort do you think they actually put into helping you rise to this position?”
Cang Juehuan shook his head. “You were able to get promoted because your abilities are strong enough. You grasped the pulse of the times and shared in the era’s benefits of the Dharma Realm’s expansion and the Soul Cultivators’ reform. It has little to do with the Reformist Faction.”
“The Soul Cultivator Dao Lineage… is what is most closely related to your interests, and the Reformist Faction has absolutely no influence over it.”
Zhang Yu said, “What about the High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits? You have a huge conflict of interest with the Soul Cultivators, right?”
After Zhang Yu spoke, he waited quietly for Cang Juehuan’s answer. In this meeting room where lies were impossible, he wanted to see what the other party’s response would be.
Cang Juehuan smiled mysteriously and said, “My goal for this law establishment is to grant human rights to High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits, making up for their inability to bear responsibility and the difficulty they face in securing loans. In the future, High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits with human rights will be existences similar to Soul Cultivators.”
“They will be much cheaper Soul Cultivators.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s heart skipped a beat. Human rights for High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits? He can’t lie here, so what he’s saying is true?
Cang Juehuan continued, “The existing Soul Cultivators can never compare to High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits in terms of cost. If you are willing to cooperate with us and support the Law Edict I want to establish during this legislative process, I can promise that you will receive the cheapest supply of ‘Soul Cultivators’ in the future. This will allow you to dominate the market and further expand the Dharma Realm Dao Lineage.”
“In this way, you will be bound together with the expansion of the Dharma Realm and High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits. So what about the Reformist Faction? You are destined to advance with the times and reap massive profits.”
“Conversely, if you continue to follow the Reformist Faction, what kind of performance can you have in the Law Establishment with your current level? You are only sacrificing your own interests to support their chosen one, Tai Yuebai. In the future, you will only be eliminated by the times.”
Cang Juehuan looked down at Zhang Yu and said, “The development of High-Intelligence Artifact Spirits is the new trend of the era. You either join in, or you will be eliminated. There is no third option.”