Chapter 1138: The Crimson Gold Gourd, Gazing to the Heavenly Pass

Blue tides surge endlessly.

A red gourd, its color vivid as fresh blood, hangs high within the cauldron, rising and falling with the waves; crimson radiance bursts forth, soaring to the heavens, dyeing the blue tides red, while sparse dark-yellow patterns adorn the gourd's surface, like the yellow ridges on a fully ripe sponge gourd.

The so-called Mei Fruit is a crimson, yellow-veined treasure gourd.

The first Position Fruit!

The first Authority!

Ever since Liang Qu advanced to Entering Zhen Xiang, ascended the Wangyue Tower, learned of the existence of the Han Mei, and was entrusted with a heavy task by the Sage Emperor, five years have passed!

Five years — how many five-year spans does an ordinary life contain?

The Dark Stake of Great Snow Mountain blood-sacrificing Blue Lake, the Dream Dynasty's key — the Yin-Yang Five Elements Plate — and now today's Super-Grade Blood Treasure.

Forces from all sides, different times, various intelligence conditions, all manner of preliminary preparations, one induced plan after another, one contingency plan after another, ceaseless exploration, ceaseless deliberation, ceaseless adjustment, involving the mobilization of countless manpower, material resources, and mental energy, the mediation of multiple powers,

Finally a foolproof method was found and obtained.

No blood sacrifice of the common people, no opening of the Netherworld, no eight-sided scramble for power triggering a great war, the earth splitting and heaven collapsing.

Plucking the fruit beneath the tree in utter silence.

What is called capability.

This is capability!

Under heaven, there is one and only one person who can do it — the "Undead" who has died once.

Him!

Marquis Xingyi!

A pillar of the state.

Great laughter shakes the heavens.

Dust falls from the sky well, floating violently within the pillar of light.

Inside the cave abode, packing belongings, readying bundles, Lao Mengyao — who had not yet left — looks up in puzzlement.

What happened? Master is laughing so happily?

Big Brother has an incident, Elder laughs loudly, it all comes together — today the whole day has been weird—

Infected by the mood, Lao Yingtian touches the Super-Grade Blood Treasure in his bosom, a smile involuntarily surfacing on his face; his gains are so immense,

And Liang Qu, as the "mastermind," gets nine parts to one — naturally only more, not less; hearing this laughter, he must be very happy indeed.

"Are you hiding something from me? A conspiracy! An illicit affair!" Lao Mengyao rolls her eyes, tilts her head back, revealing suspicion.

"Pack your things; my lord's business — children should not pry." Lao Yingtian presses down on Lao Mengyao's head, turning toward the bundle.

"Whether you were watching or not, I've finished packing!"

"Then let's go, no dawdling." Lao Yingtian grabs his sister's bundle, slings it onto his own back, "Master punished me to copy the sect rules a thousand times,

You help me copy half."

"Your mistake — why should I help you copy?"

"Your brother dragged you to the Sky Fire Sect, begged high and low, and never heard you say a single thank you; what's wrong with helping me copy five hundred times?

Want to compete? Five hundred copies — see who copies faster.

?? Whoever loses gives up a Fourth-Grade Blood Treasure!"

"Shameless — I have to imitate your handwriting when I copy, how could I possibly be faster than you—"

The two siblings leave together.

"Hah!"

Turbid breath exhaled, blowing away the floating dust in the light pillar.

Liang Qu, sitting sprawled on the stone chair, listening to the siblings' talk, restrains his smile, hides his canine teeth, and with one long breath casts off all fatigue.

One move of removing the firewood from under the cauldron — the matter of Great Snow Mountain's Blue Lake is thoroughly resolved; a long-lost ease.

Next is the imminent arrival at the Southern Frontier, settling the Southern Frontier turmoil, and the world will return once more to a static peace where all sides develop in silence.

"How to make the False Dragon refine it?"

The joyful mood restrained, what remains is contemplation, and reverence for the Position Fruit; reverence brings growth of experience, enabling a person to grow.

Gazing at the Position Fruit anew, Liang Qu unconsciously rotates his wrist.

Pain.

Merely sinking into the Sea of Consciousness, observing with the mind's eye, Liang Qu feels a faint ache in his right hand, as if returning once more to Blue Lake, the moment he reached out and grasped it — that intense burning pain transmitted from his palm, unforgettable to the bone.

The Fruit's Authority is Han Sha.

Not fire burning and high temperature, but violent dehydration, capable of producing the same pain sensation.

"The Position Fruit has a physical form, true, but ordinary people fundamentally cannot approach it—"

Opening the 【Vortex Palace】, the water flow inside vanishes into thin air, a shocking sight.

From grasping the Position Fruit by hand to taking it into the Ze Cauldron, Liang Qu took roughly fifteen breaths; one breath six seconds, a minute and a half — the Fruit he touched, surprisingly separated by a dimension, completely evaporated dry all the vortex water and essence water within the 【Vortex Palace】 divine ability, not a trace left!

Or rather.

Fortunately he had the 【Vortex Palace】 to endure that long; if it were an ordinary Grandmaster, three breaths would be generous — they would have turned to dust long ago!

"Calamity from flood and drought, the world stricken and barren; Authority, Attribute, Refining Vessel, Advancing Vessel, Realm Vessel—"

Liang Qu's gaze sweeps across, pondering seriously.

His first reaction is not that the Fruit is profound and strange, but that he can no longer use Water Marsh Essence as a shortcut.

In the past, Heaven and Earth's Long Qi, once released, was immediately collected; refining by consuming Qi — just ten thousand Water Marsh Essence, the amount of one supreme-grade treasure fish — could transform into a Spirit Fish, entirely without the trouble and worry of seeking a medium; aside from seeking, the Five Difficulties of Consuming Qi had almost no obstacles.

This time is different.

The Fruit manifested; the Ze Cauldron did not collect it immediately, but waited until Liang Qu thought the Ze Cauldron couldn't take it, actively reached out to grasp it, and ran back to Hantai Prefecture before it reacted, taking the Fruit into the cauldron.

Secondly, among the myriad messages, there is not a single prompt about consuming Water Marsh Essence.

But it doesn't matter.

Contentment brings joy; greed brings worry.

That Ze Ding can provide information is already precious enough!

Ze

Ding information has always been concise; what can be condensed is the essence.

The authority of the position fruit needs no elaboration—barren land for thousands of miles, drought lasting three years, a fact long known; such an exaggerated severing of productivity is precisely the root of the Great Shun Dynasty's taboo against Zen.

If speaking solely of drought authority, compared to other position fruits, using it against enemies may not necessarily be strong, but as long as it is held by a power, it is enough to plunge the world into great chaos and trigger mass extinction among the lower strata.

Uproot the source, block the flow.

Holding such a great weapon in one's own hand brings an indescribable sense of security.

And "Disaster" belongs to the category of comprehensive overview.

Liang Qu stroked his chin.

"Drought is a Disaster, Nü Ba is a Regulation—this reveals two major categories of position fruits; they are likely not ranks, but types. Fruit, Ying Fruit, Li Fruit, Yong Fruit—collectively called the Four Disasters. Ying Fruit, Li Fruit, Yong Fruit should all belong to the Disaster category—water disaster, plague disaster, war disaster?"

Disaster and Regulation are literally easy to understand.

One night of wind and thunder drove away the drought sprite; only then did I know that enduring rain comes to the human world.

If drought is a Disaster, then Nü Ba is the product of drought reaching its extreme and then reversing, inevitably having a strong promoting effect on the flourishing of all things.

Beyond Disaster and Regulation, are there other categories?

These two sound nothing like position fruits that directly increase combat power.

Continue downward.

Refining Ritual, Advancing Ritual, Boundary Ritual—based on Liang Qu's current perspective, all three are equally easy to understand.

Obtaining a position fruit does not equal controlling it.

If Liang Qu could master the Drought Position Fruit, he wouldn't just touch a position fruit and turn into a desiccated monkey.

Truly mastering a position fruit requires "Refinement"; refining different position fruits requires specific rituals, similar to how consuming Qi needs a medium—short term takes years, long term up to a hundred years, difficulty extremely high; otherwise, why would flood dragons bother? To lie as idiots in dragon palaces for decades on end?

【No Water, Alive; Dead, Not Stiff】—obviously this is the refinement process of the Fruit.

If speaking of literal conditions, Liang Qu feels he fully satisfies them.

He died, yet did not stiffen.

Under the protection of Withered Wood Meets Spring, corpses are warm and toasty.

Likewise, he died, theoretically needing no water, and in a soul state, no water can be squeezed out.

Yet the Drought shows no reaction, indicating things are not that simple; it must be some more exaggerated, more abstract situation.

For example, if he touches the position fruit with his soul state, would he similarly be sucked into a "dry corpse," his right hand becoming a deformed hand, with what evaporating inside being "water"?

The Fruit's Drought is absolutely not merely the superficial meaning of drawing out moisture.

Authority is almost conceptually formidable.

Advancing Ritual need not even be mentioned.

The former Holy Emperor clearly outlined the promotion method for Drought, even having the target in mind—namely, the False Dragon of the Southern Frontier.

The Southern Frontier created the False Dragon, intending to artificially create a Dragon King, so that the three great rivers capable of giving birth to a Dragon King in the world would become four.

The Great Shun Dynasty is unwilling to have such a major hidden danger appear on its borders.

"If I myself find refinement this difficult, how could I let the False Dragon undergo refinement?"

Liang Qu worries.

He feels using the Blue Lake Position Fruit to treat the Southern Frontier False Dragon is fundamentally an impossible task.

The False Dragon is no fool; refining the Fruit, and becoming a river god—whether these conflict remains to be said; after bitterly refining the魅 Fruit, waiting to be burned to ashes by you, becoming "auxiliary material" in the promoted position fruits?

Liang Qu scratches his head.

Old difficulties and troubles are resolved.

New difficulties and troubles arise.

The Southern Frontier False Dragon is a demon king, the current pinnacle of power; behind it lies the Southern Frontier, capable of easily defying the will of the False Dragon and the Southern Frontier, giving them the Fruit to refine, then burning it— to possess such ability, under today's world situation, one could overturn the table.

This is also why he hopes Ze Ding can collect the position fruit.

Running away directly and Ze Ding collecting—both can take the position fruit, but the latter allows all forces to remain unaware, granting greater operational space.

"Let's take one step at a time—go observe the Southern Frontier first, then decide; who knows, the False Dragon might be a complete idiot."

Being able to safely harvest the Fruit is a product of the situation constantly developing.

The more urgent, the more one must remain calm, maintain strategic resolve, and wait for strategic opportunity.

The more one knows, the more one can view problems from a lofty height.

Set aside thoughts.

Liang Qu looked at the last item of Ze Ding's radiance, also the most shocking item after collecting the position fruit.

【Boundary Ritual】!

【Boundary Ritual: Fruit, Ying Fruit, Li Fruit, Yong Fruit—gather the Four Disasters, the Water Sovereign as king, can illuminate the Disaster Realm.】

Disaster Realm!

The whale-king enthusiast said, the Whale King and the Great Li Taizu—both are fully exploring the path of becoming a rainbow sovereign, one by one becoming realm lords.

Is the Disaster Realm a realm?

Gathering the Four Disasters, the Water Sovereign as king—

One must say, given Liang Qu's understanding, Wu Zhiqi is likewise a symbol of disaster, a fierce deity; fierce deities gathering the Four Disasters likely means possessing another four position fruits oneself?

The Old Dragon Lord already possesses two position fruits.

"What the hell kind of world did this damn thing create?!"

Liang Qu gasped.

Flood, drought, plague, war, and a violent madman named Wu Zhiqi as the boss.

Three years of drought, three years of flood, plague in years one, three, five, bandits in years two, four, six, rest on Sundays? No, Wu Zhiqi randomly picks people to beat up on Sundays.

Hell?

He couldn't imagine how ordinary people could survive in such a world.

Compared to this, the "Underworld" of the Great Li Dynasty was delicate and refined, at least with Inspector Bian's flowers to eat.

But the appearance of the 【Boundary Ritual】 gave Liang Qu an incredibly clear path of ascent, a struggle goal.

"The furnace needs a Great Position Fruit; gathering multiple compatible, compatible Minor Position Fruits beneath it may allow the creation of one's own small world! Ascend to Rainbow Transformation!"

Four Gates, Seven Ways.

Skin, flesh, bone, blood, galloping horse, beacon fire, tiger hunt, Entering Zhen Xiang, Heavenly Dragon, furnace, Rainbow Transformation.

The path of cultivation has never appeared so clearly before one's eyes!

He faintly grasped something.

"Skin, flesh, bone, blood lay the foundation; breaking through the blood gate to the organ gate, one inherently contains a mouth of profound clear qi, rushes to open the apertures, and directly advances to Galloping Horse.

Galloping Horse opens the nine apertures, establishes nine great foundations, Beacon Fire, upon the nine-aperture foundations, lays down thirty-six meridians, establishing the three bridges of heaven, earth, and man.

Tiger Hunt, upon the three bridges, builds walls and raises towers, burying one divine ability seed in each layer—this is point, line, and surface.

Absorbing the long qi of heaven and earth, capturing rule fragments, ascending to Entering Zhen Xiang, the three-story tower becomes the Three Heavens Palace, essence, qi, and spirit unite, achieving the Sea of Qi!"

Liang Qu's eyes shone lithium-bright, sparkling and radiant.

After the foundation, point, inch, surface, then transformed into a three-dimensional heavenly palace, link after link interlocking.

After the Entering Zhen Xiang Heavenly Palace comes knocking open the Heavenly Gate, achieving Heavenly Dragon—what is Heavenly Dragon?

Liang Qu remained vague and clueless, unaware of the vastness of Heavenly Dragon's divine abilities, but he now understood the furnace must grasp a Great Position Fruit and a share of heavenly and earthly authority!

From furnace to Rainbow Transformation, it further opens up a world.

Two worlds—how great must the gap be between this "inner essence" and that "outer essence"?

Looking past the middle to the back, the deficient three, in high-rise construction, in reverse推.

Rainbow Transformation opens up a world.

The furnace mastering heavenly and earthly authority is equivalent to being one place of heaven and earth.

Entering Zhen Xiang has already achieved a thousand three-dimensional heavenly palaces.

In the middle, lacking what to string together?

"That is, the Heavenly Gate is simply violently propping open one's 'Heavenly Palace,' leaping from three dimensions to dimensionality, transforming into a 'hand' that shoots out a hair's breadth! Or say a 'corner'! The 'corner' grasps great authority, three transformations become one place of heaven and earth, relying on that one place of heaven and earth, synthesizing other authorities, able to create a small world imitating the true thousand某方's特色!"

"The 'hand'—"

Liang Qu's mind stormed at this moment.

【Can consume ten spirit fish, one point of dominion, to advance the Vortex Palace, previously taking the Huai Vortex Water Lord's supreme domain one by one, Marsh State (false) (

Small)!】

Is this the 'hand', the 'corner'??

"Gazing askance at the Heavenly Gate, the gallery path grows ever more remote. Heaven and man united, penetrating heaven and severing earth, rounding into one, the pass exhausted by flesh and spirit breaking through is the Heavenly Gate, the pass of breaking the circle, the pass of breaking the extreme.

As for what knocking the gate will knock forth, people are not all the same.

Formerly, the Zhang Zhang Longxiang Martial Saint knocked open the five heavenly gates of blood, flesh, bone, skin, and tendon, surging forth five great demons, one by one he slew them, his flesh became sage.

The Diamond Bright King knocked forth the Furious-Eyed Diamond King, obtained the Bright King's body, attained the Arhat's exalted position."

The words of the King of Yue appeared vividly.

"Breaking the Circle's Gate, Breaking the Extreme's Gate———"

Liang Qu murmured, "Now I understand, now I understand!"

"The Tiger Illness's Zhang Zhang Longxiang Martial Saint, Zhang Zhang Zhang Longxiang's Five Great Demons, the old monk's Furious-Eyed Diamond King—alas, it is the concretization of the resistance of the inner heavenly palace to the outer 'corner'!"

"Why must heaven and man be united? Why must heaven be penetrated and earth severed?"

"Heaven and man united is merging with heaven and earth; heaven penetrated and earth severed stabilizes oneself, breaking the boundary of 'I' and 'outer'!"

Their combined force helps cultivators see that 'wall'.

Having seen it, then from within, violently prop it open, rush out!

Zhang Zhang Longxiang Martial Saint, Five Great Demons, Furious-Eyed Diamond King—all are the杂 of one's own spirit, flesh, and heaven and earth!

Break it.

Immediately open it.

Called One Day Gate!

A thread of enlightenment surfaced in the heart, hard-won, easily lost, Liang Qu reached out, firmly gripped it, and pulled hard.

Heaven spun, earth turned.

Pressing tablet.

Extremely pressing tablet.

As if jumping into a small box, dark, narrow, crowded, the whole body uncomfortable, exhausting all deficiency of strength unable to prop it open.

Also like the low pressure before a storm, the young ones cannot exhale freely.

Seen.

He saw it.

That is the 'wall', is the 'door', knocking the Heavenly Gate, to open it, the resistance from within rushes out, smash it!

"Exhale."

"Inhale."

The chest heaved violently, the gale swirling back and forth, Liang Qu opened his eyes, slowly withdrawing from the box pressed against the stele.

Cannot be opened, and cannot be opened now.

He did not know what it would be like to break through to Martial Saint again in the Blood River Realm, whether a second Blood River Purification would appear—if so, that would be disastrous.

"Ha! This is what the Heavenly Pass feels like!"

Liang Qu clenched his fist, filled with excitement.

Pluck a position fruit, gaze upon the Heavenly Pass!

Not yet able to knock open—

After circulating the Wansheng Baoyuan once, Liang Qu forcibly suppressed his excitement.

It is time to return.

Calculating the days, the Heposuo fleet sailing south all the way should have nearly arrived at Nanhai Commandery, with a margin of error not exceeding three days.

Previously.

Having joined the Heavenly Fire Sect for several months, coming and going gradually familiar, no need to be overly cautious.

"Make a trip to the Great Desert."

【When things reach extremity they reverse, when affairs reach extremity they change, water slaughter brings disaster】

He vaguely grasped the pattern of the position fruit's appearance.

The fruit appears in the Blue Lake of the Pure Cauldron, where water vapor and killing energy converge and are born.

The fruit ascends to the Azure Maiden, to be consumed by Martial Saints and Demon Kings, burned, to cure calamity.

According to this

pattern, where the position fruit and the Yong fruit will appear is temporarily unclear.

However, the flood-winning fruit·

Yellow sand fills the sky.

In December, despite being in the desert, the sun hangs high, midday temperatures still not high, requiring cotton-padded jackets.

Liang Qu cupped his palm to erect a makeshift shed, raised his golden eyes to observe heaven and earth.

Beneath the Heavenly Pass and Earth's Axis, all manner of qi mechanisms cannot hide, variegated and colorful.

The position fruit not yet discovered, flying along, instead encountered some unexpected joys.

"Spirit mechanism stagnant, about to emerge, what a coincidence."

Rode the dragon into the high sky.

Drew Dragon Fubo, spun a flower spear, struck vertically.

Heaven and earth turned black and white, deathly still and silent.

Boom!

The earth dragon rolled.

The body fell to the ground.

In a small tribal nation not far away, the chieftain wrapped in a fur coat pushed aside the maid, startled and scrambling up.

"What happened? Quick, someone, quick, someone, hurry to investigate, hurry to investigate!"

The dragon spirit silk fluttered in the wind.

Liang Qu stood on the dragon's head, spear resting, awaiting.

A twenty-li valley suddenly appeared in midair, both sides' flowing sand pouring down like waterfalls and springs.

The spiritual mechanism in heaven and earth subtly shifted.

Half an hour later.

The Marsh Cauldron trembled.

【Obtained a strand of yellow sand, merged with ten thousand water marsh essences, giving birth to a spirit fish, three ascensions verdant.】

Inside the Marsh Cauldron, one yellow, one red, one green, three strands of long qi intertwined,

An unexpected joy.

"Have we crossed the border?" Liang Qu gazed at the sun, took out the map, aligned the direction.

"Marquis Xingyi!?"