Chapter 131: Merit

Chu Capital, Luo Feng's cultivation chamber, one level of the Star Tower.

Luo Feng gazed at the three pieces of perfect Chaos-layer biological material before him: a massive rock, three silver scales, and a broken fragment of enormous foliage.

"Perfect Chaos-layer biological material is truly hard to collect," Luo Feng mused inwardly. "One hundred billion cosmic grains per piece—and after all this time, I've only gathered three."

He could understand why: these perfect Chaos-layer beings had all been seized by the very peak existences of Origin Continent! Those peak beings had no interest in one hundred billion cosmic grains—only their direct disciples or children might be tempted and go to great lengths to obtain such materials.

"Let's take a look."

Luo Feng's palm sliced like a blade, cleanly cutting the rock into powder, the scales into fragments, and the leaves into shards. He then meticulously decomposed each, studying their most fundamental compositions.

"Hmm?"

Luo Feng saw it.

The most basic constituent of the rock powder was also a triune form: a single gray particle containing the Chaotic Law runes, enclosing two fused gray particles within.

"All are triune forms, but the Golden Feather Divine Bird is more nimble—this rock's triune form is far heavier," Luo Feng pondered.

The three newly acquired materials were all of the 'triune form,' yet subtle differences existed between them. A mere microscopic distinction… resulted in entirely different final forms.

Luo Feng meditated, his understanding of the triune form slowly deepening.

"Too complex," Luo Feng admitted—even though his Life Spirit lineage had reached the peak of Chaos Realm, and his Life Body lineage had reached the apex of Chaos Realm, the triune form remained profoundly mysterious, like a perfect creation of Heaven and Earth. Grasping its essence was impossibly difficult.

…

A mysterious palace, not existing in the real world, but a phantom structure within illusion.

Countless thoughts converged here.

"The Chaos Realm transcender 'Luo He' has recently been collecting perfect Chaos-layer biological material. Could these materials have some unknown special use?" one thought spoke.

"I once studied a perfect Chaos-layer being in detail—its bodily structure was merely slightly unusual, containing fragments of the 'Life Origin Dao' and 'Matter Origin Dao,'" another thought replied.

"Luo He invented his own body-refining secret art. His body-refining art bears resemblance to Chaos-layer beings—he likely cultivates both Life Origin Dao and Matter Origin Dao for his body. And his sword technique probably also incorporates Destruction Origin Dao," yet another thought added.

His deduction was remarkably accurate: Luo Feng used Life Origin Dao to comprehend the structure of perfect Chaos-layer beings, then directly transformed them using his 'Formless and Shapeless' ability.

Without the 'Formless and Shapeless' ability, one would need to study Matter Origin Dao and perform matter transmutation.

"A Chaos Realm cultivator studying three Origin Daos? This kid is bold indeed."

"We can confirm he collects perfect Chaos-layer biological material for no special purpose. Next piece of intelligence: the Snow Realm Ancestor exchanged a great price for the corpse of a 'Tuo Shan Beast.'"

"The Tuo Shan Beast is a unique lifeform cultivated by the Flame Wind Ancestor using Hunyuan bloodlines. Its body contains an extremely faint trace of Hunyuan bloodline. The Snow Realm Ancestor cultivates the 'Dripping Blood Scripture' and has fully comprehended all six branches of Life Origin Dao, reaching the 'Drip Blood into Realm' realm. Yet he has been unable to break through to Divine King Second Layer—he must be planning to use the Hunyuan bloodline for his breakthrough."

"Keep observing! If he truly breaks through using Hunyuan bloodline, we may invite him to join us."

"Next intelligence: the Thunder Ancient Kingdom's 'Snow Demon Divine King' has gone berserk, devouring the true body of Lei Shashen. Lei Shashen lost his true body and a Divine King Ultimate-tier weapon—suffering massive losses. Lei Shashen will not let this go…"

They exchanged intelligence.

These ancient existences silently observed Origin Continent.

Any precious opportunity or powerful treasure would draw their attention—and even prompt direct intervention to seize it!

Of course, Luo Feng today merely collected perfect Chaos-layer biological material—these ancient beings found it utterly beneath notice. Moreover, Luo Feng was in 'Chu Capital,' where these ancient beings dared not go to provoke Emperor Chu.

Focused on cultivation, time passed swiftly.

Between his training, Luo Feng occasionally accepted missions to earn merit.

Bounty missions, garrison missions, treasure-hunting missions—the latter two were troublesome, either consuming vast time or demanding intense effort. Only 'bounty missions' were relatively simple for Luo Feng, who possessed Lie Yuan Technique.

"Him."

Luo Feng preferred not to stir too much unrest on Origin Continent, so he accepted bounty missions only occasionally.

This bounty mission targeted the Chaos Realm apex cultivator 'Black Mist Grand Saint,' with a reward of one hundred thousand merit.

"This Black Mist Grand Saint cultivates the Causation Origin Dao," Luo Feng said, using his Concealment Transformation Art to reach Black Mist Grand Saint's territory.

It was a remote region, mostly shrouded in black mist.

Within this territory lay over a hundred ordinary cities.

Beneath the black mist, each city resembled an isolated island.

"Everyone returning to the city must be thoroughly inspected. Do not let any evil substance touch you," the gate of one ordinary city enforced, multiple arrays meticulously scanning every returning cultivator.

All cultivators submitted obediently to the inspection.

Suddenly, one cultivator's skin surface revealed a blood-red mark under the array's scrutiny.

"Impossible—when did I even touch it?" The cultivator's face twisted in despair; his body vanished soundlessly into nothingness.

"Worse!" The other cultivators watching turned pale.

"All who saw the blood-red mark must undergo secondary inspection to confirm no contamination," a voice echoed—even guards sheltered in safer zones had to be checked. Otherwise, if the corruption spread into the city, the entire settlement would be plunged into catastrophe.

At this moment—

Luo Feng appeared in the high sky, watching the scene.

"Black Mist Grand Saint has unleashed the 'Causation Calamity,' plunging countless cultivators in his territory into perpetual fear. These causation marks spread… causing immense panic, generating even stronger causation."

"He cultivates by borrowing the causation of all living beings, comprehending the Causation Origin Dao."

"If the causation becomes too entangled, he unleashes a causation catastrophe, exterminating every cultivator in the city—thus completely erasing the causation."

Luo Feng had long known Black Mist Grand Saint's intelligence.

Total annihilation was the simplest way to erase causation. The countless cultivators in these cities were indeed deeply entangled with Black Mist Grand Saint's causation—but ultimately, all met destruction.

Huh.

Luo Feng walked above the cities, watching the countless cultivators live in constant dread—each outbreak of causation calamity claimed countless lives.

!.

"Found him." Luo Feng sensed a Chaos Realm aura—coming from a merchant living in one of the cities.

The merchant smiled warmly as he ran his business, chatting cheerfully with regular customers. None of the city's cultivators knew… this merchant was the source of endless evil calamity.

"Hmm?" The merchant sensed something, looked up at Luo Feng.

In that instant, he saw all other things vanish—only an infinitely majestic star remained! The colossal star rolled forward, crushing his mind and will.

Puff!

His mind and will vanished instantly; Black Mist Grand Saint perished completely.

Luo Feng had been overly cautious—he feared Black Mist Grand Saint could use Causation Escape Art. But in truth… Black Mist Grand Saint had mastered only one branch of Causation Origin Dao and was not skilled in Causation Escape.

Luo Feng struck immediately with his killing technique, Lie Yuan Technique, overwhelming with superior mental will—leaving not a shred of consciousness, too fast even to activate reincarnation secrets.

"Thud." The merchant's face still wore a smile as he collapsed.

At this moment, in the hundred cities of Black Mist Grand Saint's territory, countless cultivators remained unaware—the Causation Calamity… had vanished completely from this moment onward.

"Collect." Luo Feng waved his hand, gathering Black Mist Grand Saint's corpse. "Mo Luo Sa finally has food again."

Luo Feng immediately departed.

…

Black Mist Grand Saint's complete death drew attention from some factions on Origin Continent.

After all, Chaos Realm cultivators killing each other and losing their true bodies was common. But total annihilation, with causation entirely erased? That was extremely rare. In just a few aeons, Bei Yu Grand Saint and Black Mist Grand Saint had both perished completely—prompting the curious to investigate.

"Bei Yu Grand Saint and Black Mist Grand Saint perished one after another in a few aeons. Both were grave sinners—could a powerful Divine King have deliberately killed these great sinners?"

"Bei Yu and Black Mist Grand Saint were relatively restrained, killing mostly within their own territories, avoiding large-scale devastation. Yet still provoked a fierce enemy?"

Many factions speculated.

Only a few could completely kill a Chaos Realm apex cultivator on Origin Continent—most Divine King First Layer cultivators couldn't manage it. Naturally, people suspected powerful existences had intervened.

Of course, only two had died—too little to cause major ripples.

If ten or eight had perished completely, the disturbance would have been immense—possibly even triggering panic among Chaos Realm cultivators.

"One hundred thousand merit." As Emperor Chu's direct disciple, Luo Feng's merit claim authority now surpassed even the Wang Zu's First-Rank Marquis.

He could directly submit missions to Emperor Chu's palace spirit.

Emperor Chu Palace, Legacy Hall.

Luo Feng returned here again.

"I wish to observe one Jie Beast Shadow," Luo Feng said directly to the spirit elder. His mental will had risen from Chaos Realm bottleneck to Divine King level thanks to the Jie Beast Diagram—he naturally had strong interest in the even more effective Jie Beast Shadow.

Just one viewing equaled the transmission of the First Jie of the 'Eight Jie Life Form,' but the cost was too high—he had only now saved enough merit.

"Observe a Jie Beast Shadow?" The spirit elder looked at Luo Feng. "Even the shadow of a complete Jie Beast requires Divine King-level will to remain conscious. Best wait until you reach Divine King Second Layer mental will. Divine King threshold mental will… is mostly used just to stay awake—you'll remember little of the vision."

"Are you certain? Will you still proceed?" The spirit elder stared at Luo Feng.

Luo Feng nodded: "Observe."

Even this fragment of an image was terrifying—what was the origin of this Jie Beast?

"Prepare," the spirit elder nodded, then dissolved.

Luo Feng gazed at the chaos before him—suddenly, a faint, colossal silhouette began emerging from within…

(End of Chapter)