Chapter 85: Ascending the Tower, all gods come to behold me; divine weapons, blood flowing, pierce the startling spear【seek first su

The cold wind rustled, and the falling rain all turned to ice.

At the alley entrance, a thick, bloody qi permeated and intertwined, piercingly pungent.

Cao Qingyuan leapt up, his overbearing qi and blood lashing the air, emitting a wailing sound of turbulent airflow; he landed at the alley mouth, and before even entering the alley he smelled the stench of blood.

The ground was in disarray, many long‑street blue bricks were cracked, remnants of the battle's aftermath still lingered, showing how fierce that fight had been.

He stepped into the alley.

Under his foot, it was not rainwater, but bright red and viscous blood.

How much blood had been spilled, to dye even the standing water crimson!

When Cao Qingyuan saw the corpse of Yang Clan Divine Foundation Yang Jing, his face changed even more drastically.

Even though he was accustomed to corpses, he could not help but feel his chest surge with emotion.

Yang Jing's death state……was too horrific!

His whole body was riddled with countless blood holes, the blood drained, and his skull was even blasted apart.

Just looking at these methods made one's heart turn cold, goosebumps rising incessantly.

"This Niú Mo……is so vicious, so treacherous……"

"Indeed the nickname was not mistaken—Niú Mo, Niú Mo, truly a demonic fiend!"

"Calling himself a hero? He doesn't even have a shred of a hero's bearing!"

Cao Qingyuan drew a deep breath, his palm resting on the knife at his waist, his breathing uneven.

Suppressing his nausea, Cao Qingyuan grabbed Yang Jing's rotting mound of flesh corpse; he did not want to make this trip, but his City Lord father ordered him to retrieve Yang Jing's corpse……so he had to come.

"How sad and lamentable—a Divine Foundation cultivator who had stood firm in Fēiléichéng for a hundred years actually died so miserably……"

"The Yang Clan is too tragic—all its masters slaughtered, the Divine Foundation patriarch died horribly, the Yang Clan……is completely ruined."

Cao Qingyuan shook his head.

Upon careful thought, what did the Yang Clan do wrong?

It seems they didn't do anything wrong……

It was merely from agreeing to help the City Lord's mansion capture that spirit child from the Xu Clan that the path to doom began.

"Niú Mo alone slaughtered the entire Yang Clan!"

"The cause……going to the Xu Clan to capture the spirit child……"

Cao Qingyuan narrowed his eyes; Li Che's daughter, that high‑grade spirit child……

"What a pity."

Bang——!

With a surge of qi and blood, Cao Qingyuan hoisted Yang Jing's corpse after the blood had drained, and vanished directly into the alley.

……

……

Golden light flowed, as if molten gold shimmered within his pupils.

His flesh and qi‑blood suddenly swelled and boiled, like furious waves crashing against a riverbank stone embankment.

Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit, finally reaching LV3, underwent a transformation and gave rise to a Divine Ability Prototype.

Divine Ability Prototype……

Dragon Elephant Vajra·Ascending the Tower!

This was a transformation Li Che had long awaited; compared to the Immortal Craft Dao Fruit, the Dragon Elephant Vajra's transformation was far harder, a kind of painstaking effort.

It mainly required combat, and intense, stimulating combat at that.

Stimulating the Dao Fruit in battle can bring it to maturity!

In fact, the reason Li Che's Immortal Craft Dao Fruit improves so quickly is also closely related to that volume, the Tangji Jianji Yaowu.

The mechanisms recorded therein, Li Che incorporated into his own concepts, attempting to replicate and craft them; for the Immortal Craft Dao Fruit, this constitutes a vast experience.

Hence, it allows the Immortal Craft Dao Fruit to rise much faster.

"Divine Ability Prototype……Ascending the Tower?"

Li Che's eyes gleamed.

Different Dao Fruits can give rise to different Divine Ability Prototypes, and can those prototypes further transform into true divine abilities?

Li Che couldn't help but anticipate the moment when these Divine Ability Prototypes would transform into true divine abilities.

"Perhaps, when the Dao Fruit reaches LV4 or LV5, it will enable the divine ability to undergo transformation?"

Li Che pondered.

With a stir of mind and spirit, the Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit in his chest throbbed, each beat as if a blazing flame burned vigorously!

【Divine Ability Prototype (Dragon Elephant Vajra·Ascending the Tower): boiling divinity, flesh ascending, perfect external refinement, all gods behold me】

A line of flowing gold introduction appeared before his eyes.

Frowning, puzzled, Li Che actually found this line of introduction hard to fathom.

After a slight sensation, Li Che did not activate 【Ascending the Tower】 in his study, but feeling the qi‑blood stirring, on the verge of boiling transformation, he guessed that 【Ascending the Tower】 should be a state enhancement stronger than the Dao Fruit's own "Vajra Change"!

Wrathful Vajra Change, already immensely powerful……

If it could let Li Che's qi‑blood cultivation jump straight from the Meridian Realm to the Profound Meridian, then opening this 【Ascending the Tower】……would it not directly reach the Divine Meridian level?

Li Che couldn't be sure, but his heart throbbed.

"A level‑3 Dragon Elephant Vajra……greatly enhances qi‑blood cultivation; even without the Divine Ability Prototype, its help to me would be even greater……"

Li Che's eyes gleamed.

However, he still gradually suppressed his excited emotions, from slaying the old Yang family head, to using the 【Flying Thunder Chess Pieces】 coordinate anchor left in his study, he returned to the study.

Li Che's movements were very fast, and precisely because of that, he managed to return to the courtyard before Cao Qingyuan and the others.

He wasn't deliberately rushing time either; it was just that killing Yang Jing really didn't take much time, and furthermore… escaping with the Flying Lightning Chess Piece was a plan he had long devised.

Whether the Bull Demon's identity was exposed or not, Li Che actually didn't care.

With Li Qingshan, a Divine Sect powerhouse, stepping forward, his twenty-two-year-old spirit child and the daughter of an ultimate spirit child were naturally guaranteed safety.

He pressed his sword fingers together, drew a void in the air, and tore open a rift in the air.

From it he spat out a Qiankun Jade bearing patterns.

This was the Qiankun Jade of the Yang family's Divine Foundation elder; upon holding it one could feel its extraordinary quality, far surpassing the Qiankun Jade Li Che had previously obtained from Si Mubai, Yang Kaihe, and others.

"A higher-quality Qiankun Jade?"

Li Che's heart stirred slightly; in the next instant the Flawless Heart Dao Fruit trembled, and the pure white Flawless Heart divinity surged forth, engulfing the high-quality Qiankun Jade.

Boom—

Li Che only felt the Flawless Heart Dao Fruit vibrate at an extremely high frequency, then directly devour and refine the Yang family elder's Qiankun Jade; the Qiankun space… expanded again, becoming much larger!

If it was originally the size of a small hut, now the Qiankun space is as big as a basketball court!

Li Che's lips curled into a smile, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "With such a vast space, how many gold leaves would it take to fill it?"

Slaying the enemy isn't the key; tallying the opponent's wealth is when one feels most pleased.

Those gains were earned by his own ability; feeling pleased is only natural.

"Twenty gold ingots, a thousand gold leaves, five thousand four hundred sixty taels of silver…"

Li Che's eyes lit up as he tallied the wealth of a Divine Foundation cultivator; these worldly riches were enough to shock him.

That was wealth beyond what an ordinary person could imagine in a lifetime!

However, Li Che's capacity to accept such wealth has also increased considerably nowadays.

His gaze shifted, and he began to tally other items.

"Huh?"

With a grasp of his five fingers, a long spear bearing red patterns spewed from the Qiankun space, which he seized in his hand.

The instant he seized the spear, Li Che felt his head buzzing!

A shrill, terrifying scream seemed to ring in his ears, almost piercing his eardrums and shattering his mind!

"This is…"

"A divine weapon!"

Li Che's eyes narrowed.

Divine weapon!

Nourished by divinity, it possesses peculiar sharpness and ability, extremely precious.

For divine cultivators, nurturing techniques, divine wood carvings, and such divine objects, as well as divine weapons… are what they pursue!

Li Che had never before seen a divine weapon, whether in the estates of Si Mubai, Yang Kaihe, or the Divine Constables Zhao Xuanhai and Zhou Ruoguan—none possessed one.

Even Zhao Xuanhai's fine-iron long blade couldn't count as a divine weapon!

His palm suddenly turned jade-colored, the Immortal Craft—Thousand Analysis Hand!

And information flowed into Li Che's mind.

……

【Divine Weapon (Nine Luminaries Top Grade): Liu Blood Piercing Shock Spear】

【Craft: Forged from hundred-year cold iron, using the blood of the demon bird "Piercing Shock", mixed with shock divinity, then tempered by fierce fire with a thousand hammerings; it can channel "shock divinity", when the spear thrusts forth, all spirits tremble together, seizing hearts and souls!】

【Wield: Shock Divinity Method, Nurturing like River and above】

……

Gazing at the information parsed by the Thousand Analysis Hand, Li Che was slightly stunned; he never imagined… the Thousand Analysis Hand still had this capability.

It could even parse the divine weapon's name, forging craft, and so on.

Perhaps this is the true way to unlock the Thousand Analysis Hand?

Nine Luminaries Top Grade divine weapon!

Li Che drew a deep breath; no wonder he is a Divine Foundation cultivator—his wealth truly far surpasses that of paupers like Zhao Xuanhai.

"When we fought, why didn't you use this divine weapon? Carelessness? Or perhaps… because at that time the Yang family elder's consciousness had already been invaded by Divine Foundation divinity, so he couldn't actively activate the divine weapon?"

Li Che's eyes flickered, and he couldn't help but think.

If he had used the divine weapon, Yang Jing's strength would probably have been greater, and perhaps he wouldn't have died so miserably.

But that's all hindsight; now…

This Piercing Shock Spear now bears the Li surname!

Besides the divine weapon, Li Che also unexpectedly discovered many rare materials; among them… the "blood-flesh red" spirit wood needed for him to craft the "Bodhi Blood Tears" was present, along with several other kinds of spirit wood, clearly prepared for carving divine wood sculptures.

Even if one's cultivation reaches the Divine Foundation realm, one cannot lack divine wood carvings; it's just that the requirements for wood carving are higher.

Just as martial practice needs elixirs, divine cultivation cannot lack divine objects.

He stored away the divine weapon and the various spirit woods.

Li Che continued his tally.

"This is… a Divine Foundation method?!"

《Nine Luminaries Heart-Shocking Strong Divine Foundation Forging Method》!

Nine Luminaries tier method for forging a Divine Foundation!

What a great thing!

Nurturing methods are precious, but Divine Foundation methods… are even more precious!

It is the hidden trump card of every aristocratic clan; Li Che had not found it in the Yang family treasury, but it turned out the Yang family elder carried it on his person!

With the method to forge a Divine Foundation, Li Che's mind was set; at least, he now has a path to forge his own Divine Foundation in the future.

He sensed within the 【Chess Saint】 Dao Fruit, drawing eighty-one black Divine Foundation divinity chess pieces from Yang Jing's corpse.

Besides that, there was also a Divine Foundation fragment, likewise containing immense Heart-startling Shock Strong divinity, enough for him to swiftly cultivate to the Nurturing Nature Like River realm.

After finishing the tally, Li Che felt dazzled by the abundance.

Having stored all the gains into the expanded Cosmos Space, Li Che rose to his feet, walked to the window, and felt the winter rain vapor mixed with ice and snow spraying onto his face.

Li Che's fluctuating emotions gradually settled into calm.

He returned to the study, intending to test the changes in martial way aptitude brought by the enhanced 【Dragon Elephant Vajra】 Dao Fruit.

He took a mat, sat cross-legged, then tore open the Cosmos Space, and a jade bottle fell into his hand.

"Python Blood Martial Pill."

He poured out a scarlet pill, opened his mouth, and swallowed it; instantly, like a heavy stone dropping, with a thud, it slid all the way down from his throat to his abdomen.

Boom—!

In an instant, his stomach became like a furnace, and his qi and blood began to boil uncontrollably!

It surged into his limbs and bones, striking the eight extraordinary meridians!

Lord Mayor's Manor.

Miasmatic heat twisted and rose in the hall.

Cao Qingyuan's paternal great-uncle, another Divine Foundation initial-stage expert of the Lord Mayor's Manor, Cao He.

He removed his clothes, revealing a chest caved in with a palm print; the formidable grandmaster true qi, like a poisonous snake, incessantly writhed in the wound, preventing it from healing.

Cao He closed his eyes, grasped a three-eyed spirit infant figurine, as strands of black divinity seeped out, which he swallowed to treat his injury.

Cao Qingyuan stood at the side, his eyelids lowered.

Before him lay Yang Jing's mountain-of-flesh corpse.

Cao Guang walked with hands behind his back, appreciating this mountain of flesh riddled with blood holes, the blood having been drained clean, so the air held little scent of blood.

"What a demon ox; merely cultivating nature, yet able to slay a Divine Foundation... Yang Jing is also pitiful, having become this demon ox's stepping stone."

"Cultivating nature to kill a Divine Foundation— the tale of the demon ox will likely spread across the martial world."

Cao Guang praised.

Cao Qingyuan suddenly lifted his head, his gaze wavering: "Father, that demon ox... is it Li Che?"

"Whether it is or not, it no longer matters..."

"Li Che, and his daughter as well—for now we cannot move them." Cao Guang shook his head slightly.

Is Li Che a demon ox?

This question... holds no meaning for Cao Guang.

"Is it because of the visitor from the Qianyuan Divine Sect?"

After a silence, Cao Qingyuan asked.

"Although the visitor is merely a branch sect expert, after all he is from the Qianyuan Divine Sect, the foremost sect of the Lingnan Dao, whose status stands there."

"Moreover, the visitor is none other than Li Qing Shan..."

Cao Guang reached out deeply, touching Yang Jing's corpse covered in blood holes, his movements very gentle.

"Li Qing Shan... is he famous?"

Hearing Cao Qingyuan's inquiry, Cao Guang drew a deep breath and glanced at him.

"I should have sent you to Yúnzhōu earlier to broaden your horizons... then you wouldn't ask such a question."

Cao Guang shook his head slightly.

Cao Qingyuan froze.

Just tell me straight that my experience is lacking; beating around the bush with disdain hurts a bit.

"The Yúnzhōu Divine Foundation Register... have you heard of it?" Cao Guang probed a spot on Yang Jing's corpse with his five fingers, pinching it, and said lightly.

Divine Foundation Register!

Cao Qingyuan drew a deep breath: "Is this Li Qing Shan a master listed on the Divine Foundation Register?"

"The Divine Foundation Register is issued by the Dàjǐng dynasty's Bureau of Astronomy, evaluating martial experts across Dàjǐng; besides, it also contains the Divine Physique Chart, and those listed therein, the Divine Foundations they forge and the Divine Physiques they cultivate, are at least of the Four Emperors..."

"Li Qing Shan ranks among the top ten on the Yúnzhōu Divine Foundation Register, his Divine Foundation perfected, an expert preparing to observe the Divine Physique!"

Cao Guang closed his eyes: "I never expected that the guide sent down this year from the Yúnzhōu branch of the Qianyuan Divine Sect would be Li Qing Shan..."

"To impact the Divine Physique with the Divine Foundation, one must condense divinity to observe the true aspect of the deity... during the observation, divinity must remain still; Li Qing Shan's Divine Physique has never descended the mountain, his divinity not embodied, so now we can only contend with him using a grandmaster's mortal body—no wonder..."

"This is our fortune... otherwise we would have been hammered to death long ago."

"This Li Qing Shan is known as the Yúnzhōu Hammer Tyrant, wielding a divine weapon, the violet-gold hammer, having smashed the heads of countless experts... his ferocious reputation is renowned."

"What good luck."

Cao Guang exhaled a breath.

"So, Li Che and his high-grade spirit-child daughter cannot be moved for now."

"Regardless of whether Li Che is a demon ox, since Li Qing Shan has revealed his identity to protect him, we dare not move him again."

"The Thousand Buddha Sculpture Feast must be sped up..."

"I worry that Li Qing Shan is currently scheming to hammer my head."

Suddenly.

Cao Guang's eyes snapped shut, his brows furrowing into the shape of a river.

"Huh?!"

"Something's not right!"

What about Yang Jing's divinity? The divinity inside his body…… how is there not a single drop left?!

Cao Guang's divinity surged on his body, constantly impacting, his five fingers clenched tightly.

"Bang!"...

After the huge flesh mountain corpse of Yang Jing in front of him twisted and writhed, it exploded into pieces, flesh and bone fragments flying across the entire hall.

Cao Qingyuan nearby was also splattered all over, his whole body stunned and numb in place.

And Cao Guang appeared somewhat violent.

"Who is it?"

"Who devoured all the divinity in Yang Jing's body?! Are there still people from my sect in Fēiléichéng?! No…… it shouldn't be……"

"Is it an Ox Demon?!"

"Could this Ox Demon…… be one of our own?!"

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