Amidst the clash of heavenly thunder and fire, Ye Zhi’s body and soul were utterly annihilated.
Lei Jun gazed at him calmly.
Through the raging storm of lightning and flas, Ye Zhi locked eyes with Lei Jun.
Yet with both his life and soul destroyed, his vision darkened completely, and his consciousness faded into oblivion.
The last thing burned into Ye Zhi’s mind was Lei Jun standing beneath a canopy of starlight, flanked by the Yin Thunder Dragon, Yang Thunder Dragon, and Yin Fire Tiger, all roaring in unison.
Doumu Star God Apparition.Xuanxiao Thunder Ancestor Apparition.Nine Heavens Thunder Ancestor Apparition.Nine Abyss Fla Ancestor Apparition.
Lei Jun… was actually wielding four of the Daoist Sect’s supre celestial techniques at the sa ti!
And he had even mastered the Dragon-Tiger Combined Strike alone…
He hid far too deeply.
Every ti people thought they had finally seen the extent of his abilities, they would always discover that his true strength ran even deeper!
In his final monts, as his mind flickered with one last burst of clarity, Ye Zhi was struck with a sudden realization.
At this mont, Lei Jun was displaying power far beyond his expectations.
But…
Was this really everything he had?
Could this Daoist still have a trump card he hadn't even used?
Simply because… there was no need to?
Because what he had already displayed was more than enough?
Suddenly, Ye Zhi recalled the battle between Tianshi Mansion and the Mortal Dao Nation at Mount Longhu.
The events that transpired within the Pure Yang Domain were still largely unknown to the outside world.
But now, looking back…
Could it be that Lei Jun had played a decisive role far beyond what anyone had ever imagined?
Was it because of him that Tianshi Mansion was able to crush the Mortal Dao Nation so quickly?
Before he could reflect further, Ye Zhi’s thoughts faded into nothingness.
His soul and body were completely consud by the surging radiance of interwoven thunder and fire.
Lei Jun, still in the form of the Doumu Star God Apparition, watched calmly as the high-ranking elder of the Ye Clan of Qingzhou was reduced to nothing—not even ashes remained.
With a casual flick of his hand, he caught the fading, weakened Danqing Brush that had been sent flying.
At the sa ti, out of pure habit, he cleaned up every trace of his actions using the power of the Dark Side of the Heavenly Book—thorough and precise.
Then, Lei Jun turned his gaze to the other side.
There, Ye Zhi’s Canghai Scroll trembled violently.
This ritual artifact was his lifelong masterpiece, ticulously refined and continuously strengthened—it surpassed even his prized Bihai Brush.
Even after Ye Zhi’s death, the Canghai Scroll’s divine power did not imdiately fade.
However, now that Lei Jun had revealed himself, Ye Zhi’s montary distraction had weakened his control over the scroll.
The people trapped within it were quick to react, launching a fierce counterattack in an attempt to break free.
A small black hole had already appeared within the scroll’s void.
The hole’s edges were scorched black, resembling burnt paper.
As the Canghai Scroll shuddered, its shape was finally revealed—but a gaping hole had been burned through it.
From within the hole, a faint light began to shine through.
At the eting point of sea and sky, the first rays of dawn had begun to erge.
And within the Canghai Scroll, another sunlight-like glow appeared.
For a mont, it looked as if two suns were rising over the sea.
The light shining through the hole in the scroll grew brighter and more intense—
It was as if a true sun was about to rise from within the sea.
The rays of sunlight shot straight into the sky.
Blazing hot, yet terrifyingly sharp.
Seeing this, Lei Jun raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise.
With his current level of comprehension and vision, he quickly discerned what was happening.
Soone trapped inside the Canghai Scroll had used a one-ti spiritual artifact, burning its energy to break through the now-masterless scroll.
As the artifact’s energy burned, it also ignited the Canghai Scroll, creating a resonance between the two forces, triggering an even greater transformation.
The piercing, radiant sunlight was the final product of that process.
However, such an unstable and extre burst of light would likely burn itself out unless it was properly harnessed into a new spiritual artifact.
A thought flashed through Lei Jun’s mind—
Could this be the Third-Grade Opportunity foretold in the Supre Good On?
The Danqing Brush, though valuable, was mainly suited for Confucian cultivators, particularly those of the Ye Clan of Qingzhou.
For Lei Jun, its usefulness was limited—it didn’t truly qualify as a Third-Grade Opportunity.
But this scorching, razor-sharp sunlight—
That was sothing else entirely.
As the Canghai Scroll had yet to fully unravel, Lei Jun rose into the air, intercepting the scattered beams of blazing sunlight before they dispersed.
One by one, the rays of sunlight were absorbed into Lei Jun’s grasp, and through his celestial techniques and mana, he gradually stabilized them.
Eventually, the intense spiritual energy coalesced in his palm, forming a miniature sun.
The “sun” pulsed with brilliant golden light, radiating heat and sharpness—
Countless needle-like rays shot outward in all directions, sharp and dazzling beyond compare.
[Solar Divine Radiance]
A na surfaced in Lei Jun’s mind.
He gave a small nod, storing the energy away for later study.
With the Dark Side of the Heavenly Book’s power flowing through him, he erased all traces of his presence once more.
As the Taiqing Eight-Scenery Mantle enveloped him, Lei Jun vanished completely, as if he had never been there at all.
Below, over the vast ocean, the Canghai Scroll was torn apart, releasing the folded void back into reality.
A figure slowly erged from within.
It was Fang Yue—the very person Ye Zhi had sealed within the Canghai Scroll.
His opponent from the Heavenly Principle, however, had left only a corpse behind.
With the scroll broken, Fang Yue did not imdiately rush out—
Instead, he held his ground, wary of a possible ambush from Ye Zhi.
Around him, a majestic city had ford as his defense.
As a Confucian Recitation cultivator at the Seventh Heaven Realm, Fang Yue’s spoken words resonated with divine force, gathering spiritual energy to shape reality itself.
But what truly caught Lei Jun’s attention was that this city wasn’t ford purely through Confucian recitation techniques.
It also incorporated another spiritual material, reinforcing its defensive strength even further.
It looked like tal, yet like stone, its spiritual essence deeply contained and incredibly dense.
It was unmistakable.
Lei Jun knew it well.
It was Whetstone Rock.
And not just any Whetstone Rock—
It was from the batch that Lei Jun had obtained from the Gao Clan’s ancestral land in Zezhou.
His brow lifted slightly.
He recalled how he had transferred most of that Whetstone Rock to the Celestial Universe of the Heavenly Book’s Saturn Earth Luminary.
So…
Lei Jun’s gaze locked onto Fang Yue.
Comparing it to the Saturn Earth Luminary’s behavior, the resemblance was uncanny.
It was exactly the sa.
Fang Yue truly had not lied.
He never revealed his true identity, but neither did he pretend to be sothing he wasn’t.
Lei Jun’s expression remained unreadable.
Watching as Fang Yue gathered his city and the remnants of the Canghai Scroll, he departed from the sea without hesitation.
This wasn’t the first ti Fang Yue had encountered such matters.
But he wasn’t the type to suffer a loss in silence.
He would, of course, report this to Her Majesty the Empress and the Tang Imperial Court.
Though the incomplete Cang Hai Diagram remained, without Lei Zhi himself or other solid evidence, the situation would likely devolve into a round of finger-pointing. In the end, the Qingzhou Ye Clan would probably have to pay so form of compensation to the Tang Imperial Court.
Unless both sides completely severed ties and turned hostile.
However, neither Fang Yue’s mood nor his objectives were shaken by his recent predicant.
The top priority remained suppressing the Tianli cultivators’ ritual and achieving the strategic goal of “closing” the void portal between Tianli and the human realm.
So even if he were to et with Chu Xiuyuan and Ye Yan now, Fang Yue could still remain composed.
If there was anything that truly piqued his curiosity, it was the mysterious expert who had helped him.
Since the person had not revealed themselves, Fang Yue had no intention of prying into their identity. He assud that senior had their own considerations. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder.
It obviously couldn’t be a Tianli cultivator.
And from other factions? There were no clear leads.
Speaking of mysterious experts, the first that ca to mind was the one who had caused the deaths of Li Qingfeng and Li Hongyu.
But their identity had already been exposed—it was none other than Huang Xuanpu, the forr sect leader of Pure Yang Palace.
He certainly wouldn’t have gone out of his way to kill Lei Zhi, only to vanish into thin air.
There were people capable of killing Lei Zhi.
But soone who would kill Lei Zhi, leave the Cang Hai Diagram and Fang Yue untouched, and then simply disappear—that was far harder to fathom.
Lei Zhi was a cultivator at the Second Layer of the Eighth Heaven. Even without the Cang Hai Diagram, it wouldn’t have been easy to kill him without giving him a chance to escape. The strength of the assailant was evident.
Moreover, Fang Yue estimated that he had erged from the Cang Hai Diagram in a very short ti.
For Lei Zhi to have been eliminated so quickly…
The more Fang Yue thought about it, the more he felt that this mysterious senior’s abilities were truly formidable.
He shook his head slightly, refocusing his mind and continuing on his way.
anwhile, Lei Jun, still concealed within the Taiqing Eight Sceneries Cloak, quietly watched him depart.
Retracting his gaze, Lei Jun turned northward.
Now that he had secured the Solar Divine Radiance, the Third-Grade Opportunity foretold by his Supre Good On, there was no need to linger here.
Instead, he made his way toward the sea near the void portal connecting Tianli to the human realm.
That location had previously aligned with a Moderate-Moderate On, but since he was proceeding with extre caution, he intended only to observe from a distance.
Judging by the flow of spiritual energy, the battle there was not as intense as before.
Lei Jun did not approach the innermost area but instead stopped at a distance to focus on reading the energy fluctuations.
Overall, the conflict appeared to be in a stalemate.
“It seems the decisive mont hasn’t arrived yet.”
If it wasn’t yet the final stage, it ant that the top experts on both sides were still holding back so of their strength.
In such a situation, they might still be able to pay attention to their surroundings.
Thus, Lei Jun refrained from drawing closer and instead found a relatively safe and hidden spot in the surrounding sea to wait.
As he waited, he entered the True-One Altar Grotto-Heaven.
With a casual wave of his hand, several items lined up before him.
A scholar’s inkstone, Moonlit Inkstone, glead with a soft moonlight, appearing as if carved from pure white jade.
The Azure Sea Calligraphy Brush, freshly taken from Lei Zhi.
And the Solar Divine Radiance, which, when gathered, resembled a miniature sun, and when dispersed, scattered into countless golden rays.
Lei Jun first placed the Moonlit Inkstone and Solar Divine Radiance together.
The opposing forces of Sun and Moon radiated in harmony.
One had a dispersed, outward energy, while the other was dense and restrained.
In a way, they complented each other.
However, since Lei Jun already possessed the Two-Elent Celestial Physique, he didn’t need to focus on refining another object along similar principles.
So, after a brief consideration, he set the Solar Divine Radiance aside.
He then placed the Moonlit Inkstone alongside the Azure Sea Calligraphy Brush.
Thinking for a mont, he flicked his fingers again.
A block of high-quality scholar’s ink appeared, completing the set of brush, ink, and inkstone.
This scholar’s ink had been a gift from his senior brother, Wang Guiyuan, when he returned from his travels.
After inspecting its intent and properties, Lei Jun suspected it originated from the Suzhou Chu Clan.
For a long ti, he had kept the ink untouched, using it instead as a ans to study and understand Confucian cultivation thods.
Now, with the complete set before him, scholarly essence flowed between them.
Lei Jun stared at the items in thought.
If he could acquire high-quality paper, he might be able to attempt sothing new.
Of course, there were challenges.
For instance, both the Azure Sea Calligraphy Brush and the Chu Clan’s scholar’s ink embodied the principles of traditional Tang Confucianism.
anwhile, the Moonlit Inkstone ca from Tianli’s Confucian Rational Studies.
The two held inherent conflicts.
Balancing them would require careful experintation.
But if he could succeed, it would certainly yield interesting results.
Lei Jun nodded slightly.
He waved his hand, storing away the brush, ink, and inkstone.
Only the Solar Divine Radiance remained before him.
Lei Jun studied it, nurous thoughts surfacing in his mind.
He retrieved his Illusory Mirror and alternated between observing the mirror and the Solar Divine Radiance, weighing his options.
Just then, a thought flickered through his mind, and the Celestial Ground-Through Talisman within his eyes silently activated.
Exiting the True-One Altar Grotto-Heaven, he looked into the distance.
There, around the void portal linking Tianli and the human realm, another intense battle had erupted.
Lei Jun observed for a mont, his brows initially furrowing, then relaxing.
At first glance, the situation seed disadvantageous for the Tang side.
Was Chu Xiuyuan, due to his advanced age, finally being overwheld?
Though their opponents were also elderly, the Tianli cultivators, empowered by their sect’s accumulated fortune, did not weaken with age—they only grew stronger over ti.
However, Ye Yan, Chu Xiuyuan, and Chu Yu were all well aware of this dynamic.
Logically, they shouldn’t have allowed themselves to fall into such a disadvantageous position so easily.
Could it be a trap to lure the enemy in?
With the situation unclear, Lei Jun didn’t pry further and simply continued to observe.
The battle raged on. The Tang cultivators’ defensive line was slowly being pushed back.
It appeared that more Tianli cultivators were pouring out of the void portal.
As Lei Jun surveyed the battlefield, his gaze suddenly sharpened.
He noticed sothing unusual.
In one area, it wasn’t a clash between Tang and Tianli forces.
Instead, two figures—both from Tianli—were engaged in a chase.
One was pursuing the other.
The fleeing individual appeared to be a young scholar, seemingly around twenty years old.
However, from Lei Jun’s observation, his actual age was likely older than his appearance suggested.
What intrigued Lei Jun most was that, despite his scholarly attire, the young man’s cultivation was rooted in Daoism—though it differed significantly from the Daoist traditions of the Tang Dynasty.
As for his pursuer, he was unmistakably a Confucian Rational Studies scholar.
The two figures darted across the stormy sea.
With the chaos of battle and the violent spiritual energy, the young man—already weaker in cultivation—was slowly losing ground.
Finally, the black ink of Prescriptive aning enveloped him, trapping him on a desolate island.
“Young Master, co back with . It would be unwise to make act forcefully.” The middle-aged scholar smiled.
The young man struggled to stand—his legs seed injured. Though unsteady, he sneered, “Go back for what? To have my legs broken again? Or sothing worse?”
The scholar’s smile faded, his tone turning stern.
“Nie Fang, you are becoming increasingly disrespectful. You should know—there is no such thing as an unjust parent.”
Lei Jun, watching in silence, almost couldn’t hold back a scoff.
These people… really never fail to be utterly ridiculous.
Lei Jun turned his gaze toward the direction where Nie Fang had vanished.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Automaton Arts.
Now that was an unexpected surprise.
In the Tang Dynasty, similar chanical cultivation techniques had once existed—
But they had long been lost to history.
Lei Jun had only ever seen brief ntions of them in ancient texts.
They were known as the Moist School's inheritance.
One of its major disciplines was chanized Constructs, also referred to as Automaton Dao.
The Moist School, in its pri, had three primary branches:
The Path of Assassins – The only lineage that had left traces in later generations, deeply influencing martial cultivation in the Tang Dynasty.The Path of Non-Aggression – A rumored practice that rged spiritual and physical cultivation, said to resemble the Buddhist Precepts Tradition in external combat techniques. But it had been entirely lost.The Path of chanization – A discipline that had also vanished in the Tang Dynasty.
Yet now, it seed that while so old Daoist traditions had died out in the Ming Dynasty, new hybrid paths had erged.
Nie Fang’s Bronze Automaton was still crude, but Lei Jun only needed a glance to grasp its essence.
It was not pure Moist School Automaton Dao.
Rather, it was a fusion of Daoist and Moist School techniques, likely born from a mix of the Daoist External Alchemy Sect and the Talismanic Branch.
Compared to the Daoist Artifact Refining and Talismanic Arts, it was less refined.
But it had already ford a structured inheritance, even if Nie Fang had only obtained it in fragnts.
Most likely, he hadn’t officially apprenticed under a true master.
Instead, he had stumbled upon so remnants of lost texts through sheer luck.
And yet, with just those fragnts, he had managed to build sothing substantial.
His talent in this field was undeniable.
For such a lost discipline to resurface in the Ming Dynasty, where the Daoist Talismanic Branch had long perished, was an extraordinary anomaly.
And it had just so happened to fall into the hands of soone desperate for a path outside of Tianli’s control.
A perfect match.
Lei Jun’s smile deepened.
“My cultivation journey thrives on encountering these fascinating Daoist inheritances and mystical arts.”
"Since you've entered the Tang Dynasty... perhaps we will et again."
Lei Jun withdrew his gaze.
His attention returned to the Void Gateway in the distance.
The battle was still raging, but the frontlines were shifting.
The Tang Dynasty cultivators were slowly retreating, while the Tianli scholars pursued with growing montum.
Lei Jun watched silently for a mont, assessing the situation.
After so thought, he made his decision.
Without urgency, he left the battlefield and found a quiet location to settle down.
Then, Lei Jun raised his hand toward the sky.
The Grand Celestial Jade, which had previously rged with the High Heaven Jade Seal, descended from above.
Lei Jun calmly began to refine it anew.
As he tempered the artifact, he dispelled its outer layer of scorching heat while simultaneously entering his True-One Altar Grotto-Heaven.
Inside, he stepped onto the First Level of the True-One Altar, preparing for a new round of refinent using the Nine Abyss True Fire.
This ti, however, the Grand Celestial Jade was not the only artifact he worked on.
Lei Jun also took out his own Illusory Mirror and the Solar Divine Radiance he had recently acquired.
Within the blue-green flas, Lei Jun ticulously engraved talismans onto both the Grand Celestial Jade and the Illusory Mirror.
Gradually—
He began to fuse them into a single artifact.
The Illusory Mirror slowly transford into a shadow, actively rging with the Grand Celestial Jade.
At the sa ti, the Jade itself was steadily flattened, taking on the shape of a mirror.
Then, Lei Jun incorporated the Solar Divine Radiance.
These intangible, needle-like beams of light, sharp enough to pierce through reality itself, were carefully sealed into the mirror—one by one.
As the Solar Radiance rged into the artifact, the mirror’s surface erupted with golden light, blinding and radiant like a miniature sun.
Lei Jun willed it, and the glow receded.
The mirror itself began to turn transparent, its core reflecting an intricate talismanic seal—
The sa Heaven-Penetrating Ground-Through Talisman that lay deep within Lei Jun’s own pupils.
The two mirrored one another—shining and dimming in perfect synchrony.
Lei Jun nodded in satisfaction.
"I shall na this the Grand Celestial Law Mirror."
For now, it wasn’t in its final form.
But based on his current cultivation, understanding, and mastery of Daoist techniques, it had reached an ideal preliminary state.
After countless refinents, this artifact was finally ready for practical use.
Lei Jun focused his mind, channeling his Daoist mana to further nurture and refine the Grand Celestial Law Mirror.
Then, he exited the True-One Altar Grotto-Heaven.
With a casual wave of his hand—
The nearly invisible mirror shot upward, soaring into the skies, where it disappeared among the clouds.
This treasure was not fixed in a single position, nor did it move solely in response to Lei Jun’s commands.
Instead, it road freely through the heavens, traveling through the cosmic void, aligning itself with the celestial bodies in its own mysterious rhythm and trajectory.
Yet, despite its independence, it remained in constant connection with Lei Jun—
Its power, ever within his grasp.
Reviews
All reviews (0)