Chapter 1367

The stone monkey drifts, its color azure, its texture warm and moist, its form undefined, its power boundless, covering all within a thousand li in chaotic currents.

Yellow muddy water surges down, swift and turbulent, colliding in midair and shattering into pieces, gathering into a cotton-white waterfall, its sound like thunder.

Five fingers and large feet tread the mud, the white ape opens its mouth to swallow the river, swimming upstream, wherever it goes, it is like a great dam, blocking the river flow, moving upward swiftly.

The blazing sun scorches fiercely.

Tens of thousands of dragon people, martial masters, demon beasts, and officials bare-chested follow behind; salamanders, giant crabs, river-opening oxen, and mountain pigs drag sludge ashore, vast amounts of river mud flung to both sides, occasionally mixed with two loaches that have emerged.

Long Eying wears a single garment, her outer coat tied at her waist, her hair bound in a single ponytail like that of the South-Pointing Chariot, she wipes away sweat, using solid ice to temporarily solidify the river channel.

"Marvelous, truly marvelous——originally, the refining of the position fruit is like this, akin to forging, except metal is heated, while the position fruit is refined by its own means——"

Lan Jicai records with pen and paper, eyes unblinking, entranced and intoxicated.

The appearance of such a supreme treasure as the position fruit—let alone the one who obtains it, even for onlookers, is a great honor.

Leaving a name in history.

To achieve these four words—what a temptation it is; once achieved, even the furnace requires three thousand one long slumbers, and his soul shall endure eternally. Yet precisely because of this, it is exceedingly difficult, but beyond difficulty, there is likewise a shortcut: as long as one can link oneself to something destined to leave a name in history!

Position fruit.

The position fruit is such a thing.

Now, such an opportunity exists.

Every appearance of a position fruit is, in the annals of history, the most vivid and significant stroke. Moreover, the emergence of a position fruit is already rare, and its refinement is even more difficult, and the method of its refinement is the most critical priority.

In life, to personally witness the emergence of a position fruit and participate in its refinement, to record it and leave one's name—what glory is this?

My master has lived through the tumult of the Qian-Shun era, witnessed the fall of the Yellow Sand River Long Wang, already a stroke of extraordinary luck, yet he had no connection to it whatsoever, after all, merely seeing it counts for nothing; true involvement, recording something down, is what truly establishes a link!

This is to add bricks and tiles to the path of all living beings!

It is said that the founding emperor of the Great Li dynasty was the first postnatal furnace outside of innate true spirits, a postnatal immortal, the leader of myriad living beings, the grave-digger of sect systems, the pioneer of dynastic systems.

Thereafter, the four passes, galloping horses, beacon fires, tiger hunts, Entering Zhen Xiang, premature dragons, furnaces——the mansions of the Seven Ways of the Four Passes have already been solidly completed, only the dark clouds covering the top, awaiting transformation into rainbow.

My master once said, the furnace is the utmost authority, and the path of transforming into rainbow is the system of authority, branching out and spreading leaves; whoever perfects even a point of that system, a point of cause and effect, becomes the one who lays a brickstone on the path forward for all living beings.

Long Binglin wipes his sweat, leaps onto the riverbank, drinks a mouthful of tea to rest, and hears Lan Jicai muttering to himself, unable to help but wonder: "Lan Sir has never seen a position fruit."

"Where would I have seen one? I only have a tiger-hunt great martial master beside me; after completing the longevity treasure materials, I can barely live to a hundred sixty or seventy—look at how old I am now!"

"Sixty or seventy?"

Lan Jicai's complexion changes, he pulls out a small mirror from his chest: "Have I really become this weathered? Alas, wine and lust have reduced me to this state; from today onward, I shall abstain from alcohol."

"It's not weathering, merely that I find Lan Sir's divination skills so extraordinarily strong that being too young seems implausible, or perhaps he possesses youth-preserving techniques, for just now he looked like a young man in his early twenties, hence I dare not judge by appearance."

"Hahaha." Lan Jicai squints and smiles, stroking his goat beard: "Good eye, not bad at all; this poor Daoist is twenty-five this year, in the prime of life, as they say; my clan has an unmarried dragon girl of suitable match—remember to introduce her to me often, I don't ask for someone like your sister, but even seven or eight tenths would satisfy this poor Daoist."

Long Binglin remains noncommittal.

"Back then, the elder broke through tiger-hunt into the record, and it was Lan Jicai himself who came to Pingyang to verify; that was already nearly ten years ago, so a fifteen-year-old Lan Jicai would already have had a goat beard?"

"Quite aged in appearance."

"If two hearts mutually cherish, people naturally praise it; if a dragon girl were to favor Lan Sir, I would naturally be willing to introduce her; just now I merely felt that although the position fruit is rare, Lan Sir, holding such a high position, ought to have seen one or two."

"Seeing an egg—what position fruit would let me see? They guard it like an egg, and just one glance feels like losing one's chastity—wailing, causing a scene, then hanging oneself."

"In the era when position fruits most commonly reveal their eyes, this poor Daoist had not yet been born; able to flip through books, smell through walls, sense the qi—already not bad; moreover, last year I saw a wave of Yi position fruits, but even that is not like now—alas, you wouldn't understand even if I said it." Lan Jicai waves his hand, continuing observation.

Long Binglin glances over, sees dense, cryptic talisman-like markings, and cannot comprehend them.

The elder did not say it was forbidden, so he simply does not meddle further.

Tian Shun can provide a stable environment for the elder to refine the position fruit, and accommodate the elder's existence during refinement—this in itself is already a rare kindness; obstruction would instead breed hostility.

Dragon people sweat like rain, digging the riverbed.

Lan Jicai's eyes flash with sharp light, intently watching the changes of the position fruit.

At first, the stone monkey position fruit resembled jade—cool and hard to the touch. After merely ten or so days, the entire stone monkey fruit, its hard texture softened generally, like a plastic film wrapping glue.

Originally, the stone monkey's facial pattern was clear, but due to softening, it becomes increasingly "swollen."

"Refining the stone monkey position fruit requires a spatial divine ability, and the space must be immensely vast, not something ordinary strange stones can open, simultaneously requiring extraordinarily strong water control, needing vast amounts of river water, surging physical strength——"

"Swallowing and spitting rivers?"

Lan Jicai wonders curiously.

Where did the white ape obtain the strange stone to open space?

Was it given by the mirage dragon?

Strange stone: one must take a portion of heaven and earth, condense it forth—it is an immortal's method; even the court would have to expend great effort to achieve it, and it would involve great mobilization, and only a few powers in the world can accomplish it, their movements cannot possibly escape the notice of the Four Wilds Heavenly Instruments, and even more astonishing is the scale of this space.

How vast is the Yellow Sand River?

Waters within a hundred li radius are all poured in, and the space inside is at least comparable in size.

Moreover, if the space is insufficient, one must coordinate with water control, actively entering; spatial divine ability is not so convenient—most masters actually only have a key, moving things in and out like laborers.

Furthermore, this position fruit is also shaped like a stone monkey and possesses the water attribute; regardless of its effects, Lan Jicai does not believe it is coincidental.

Many things: initially believed, then disbelieved, then believed again—essence unchanged, varying only with degree.

The first appearance of the white ape, recorded by the Juan Sect, was during a snake plague in Xiangyi County; at that time, the white ape's tiger-hunt strength included water control, said to be a heaven-earth exotic species, which is reasonable.

Exotic species, heaven and earth.

But when the white ape reached the premature dragon stage—no, Entering Zhen Xiang—the situation became hard to believe, for exotic species between heaven and earth are many, like three-legged toads, two-headed snakes, three-headed turtles—none are nonexistent, yet to say they swim faster than normal is clearly unreasonable.

Throughout history, true spirits have always been long and slender—how then are you alone square and upright?

But when this three-legged toad glows with golden light all over, steps forward, and golden lotuses surge from the earth, this again becomes reasonable.

Because only the explanation of heaven and earth's favor remains.

The current position fruit is precisely in this state.

The position fruit emerging from the center of Jianghuai has grown into a monkey's shape; a monkey, upon obtaining it, can refine it immediately, without a day's hesitation, swift as if a note had been pasted——

If you are not a true spirit, then who is?

Why would the true spirit refine its own position fruit anyway — why is the true spirit a monkey, not a dragon — 【62】 Could it be some spontaneous phenomenon of heaven and earth, a defensive change? 【63】 As soon as the thought arose, Lan Jicai's eyes lit up, and an uncontrollable divergence spread out as he paced by the riverbank. 【64】 The lifespan of innate true spirits is extremely long, so long it cannot be said clearly, no one knows, regardless of ethnicity, the approximate lifespan of a calamity dragon is generally between six hundred and one thousand years, dragon kings differ, the Ehe River Long Wang has definitely exceeded a thousand years, the dragon king as a demon emperor, historical records show, seems not to need a three-thousand-year hibernation once. 【65】 However, the lip dragon and the dragon king, the two before and after, just vanished so lively. 【66】 Again and again, not a third time. 【67】 Lan Jicai knows some things, and knows some secrets. 【68】 He knows the Sacred Emperor is touring the south this year, with an ulterior motive not in the wine. 【69】 Heaven and earth do not want to sit and wait for death, but instinctively launch resistance, the third dragon king is the key among keys, thus altering the form of the third dragon king. 【70】 At the same time, the old dragon king's authority seems to have vanished, heaven and earth can only nurture another different authority, and since it is the first time, the nurturing is comparatively difficult, resulting in deviation, only able to start from small, even requiring the true spirit to refine itself? 【71】 The benefit is, the true spirit innately knows how to refine the position fruit! 【72】 "Holy shit!" 【73】 Lan Jicai widened his eyes. 【74】 The recorded pages trembled lightly, and all his body hair stood up. 【75】 The position fruit naturally would not have a sticky note, nor would it innately possess a name, all names are later bestowed, trees are called trees because humans invented the "tree" character, names are all like this, refining and promotion are likewise. 【76】 The position fruit is the authority of heaven and earth, its rank extremely high, wanting to divine or calculate the refining method is utterly impossible, thus the completion of the lineage will be the cornerstone of all living beings — 【77】 Have the dragon people long sensed this? 【78】 Lan Jicai glanced at Long Binglin. 【79】 Long Binglin cultivated the Eye Recognition Method, immediately sensed the gaze, muttering, Lan Jicai wouldn't really want to seek a dragon girl, would he? Would directly refusing be not too good? If truly introducing him past, wouldn't it be pushing him into a fire pit? 【80】 Terror, great terror! 【81】 As if all things had drawn a circle, Lan Jicai struggled to maintain his breath, discarded his distracting thoughts, dared not record again, yet couldn't help but think. 【82】 What exactly is the thing that heaven and earth want to resist? What are those above the nine heavens doing? 【83】 "If my guess is not wrong — " 【84】 Lan Jicai lowered his head, then looked at Bai Yuan. 【85】 Bai Yuan not only knows how to refine the position fruit, but should also know how to universally promote it! 【86】 Even — knows the more grand lineage! 【87】 Boom boom boom! 【88】 Bai Yuan surged forward with strides, cutting off the Shahe River. 【89】 The right position fruit of Lan, from barely detectable to now treasure blue, from initial hardness to now soft as a mass of flowing water, like forging a steel billet into a weapon, smashing the hard fruit shell open, leaving digestible fruit flesh. 【90】 So difficult, so simple. 【91】 The difficulty lies in half a month, the entire Vortex Palace's water changed an unknown number of rounds, nearly swallowing tens of thousands of li of muddy water, under heaven, who else could? 【92】 The simplicity lies in Liang Qu having a Ze State, with water-control ability, with Dashun assistance, with Ze Ding assistance, swallowing and spitting rivers, as if tailor-made ritual for him! 【93】 Mastering the spirit to sense things, spirit moves qi to enter the subtle. 【94】 In the dark, there is naturally a tacit understanding arising, like same-frequency vibration, achieving wall-penetration through intermolecular space. 【95】 Sensing the moment has arrived, Bai Yuan opened his huge mouth, together with the Shahe River water, swallowing the softened and liquefied right position fruit entirely into his belly! 【96】 Lan Jicai's spirit was shaken, his eyeballs bulged to the maximum. 【97】 Will it succeed? 【98】 The Shahe River demon king, Huaijiang demon king, East Sea, North Sea, South Ling, North Ting — all craned their necks. 【99】 "Gurgle." 【100】 The stone monkey smashed into Ze State, turbulent flow arose, the waist-fruit-shaped jelly wobbled again and again. 【101】 At this moment, Ze State has one in and one out, still with endless torrents scouring, like firewood continuously added in a furnace. 【102】 The "jelly-state" stone monkey hangs suspended in midair, constantly twisting and stretching, then rebounding to recover, each deformation, the chaotic flow and force dissipate without trace, fluctuating between strong and weak. 【103】 The stone monkey underwent several rounds of shaking. 【104】 Liang Qu's physical and mental tremor sensation grew stronger and stronger, finally in another torrent scouring, the right fruit could no longer hold, reaching the general melting point, the membrane ruptured, the stone monkey puffed with a sound, completely melting into liquid! 【105】 The azure liquid flowed like a long dragon. 【106】 The heart beat violently. 【107】 The Ze Ding trembled. 【108】 【Refining Ritual Completed, Authority Grasped — 】 【109】 In the flood, the treasure-blue long dragon gradually faded, as if merging into Ze State, or like scorching magma, smashing through Ze State, falling into the Lower Dantian. 【110】 Ze State instantly turned azure, the land it covered, distorted and deformed, stretched into rivers, fierce and murderous. In the Lower Dantian, the cracked yellow earth remained unchanged, yet the brown yellow earth suddenly changed color, turning into an abnormally deep blue. 【111】 Boom! 【112】 Violent chaotic flow and force exploded within the body. 【113】 When the right fruit was held in hand, Liang Qu could still control it, but now, the flood disaster force exclusive to the right fruit erupted within the Lower Dantian, sharp pain came. 【114】 Without refining the position fruit to fill the dry root sea's beauty, it's only adding oil to fire. 【115】 Eight hundred times the root sea, in an instant split into five parts! 【116】 Three dragon court immortal islands, collapsing inch by inch! 【117】 Originally just unable to sense the root sea, still able to expend energy, using creation techniques, now even unable to sense creation techniques! 【118】 Liang Qu's pupils suddenly shrank, but following closely after the dragon court immortal islands' collapse came, was an inexplicable sensation surging to the back of his head, connecting to the spine, he seemed to have grown an extra hand, an extra foot, innately able to grasp, innately able to move. 【119】 Something was stuffed into his hand. 【120】 He gripped it tightly, like Zeus grasping lightning.

"Could it be some kind of spontaneity of heaven and earth, a defense against change?"

The thought barely formed before Lan Jicai's eyes lit up, and then it spread uncontrollably as he paced along the riverbank.

Innate True Spirits have extremely long lifespans, so long they cannot be reckoned; no one knows. Regardless of race, the general lifespan of a Flood Dragon falls between six hundred and a thousand years. Dragon Kings are different — the Ehe Long Wang has absolutely exceeded a thousand years. As for the Dragon Lord, being a Demon Emperor, historical records suggest he seemingly does not even require the once-every-three-thousand-years hibernation.

Yet, the Lip Dragon and the Dragon Lord, both of them just vanished like that, one after the other.

Once, twice, but not a third time.

Lan Jicai knew some things, and even more, he knew some secrets.

He understood clearly: the Holy Emperor's southern tour this year — his true aim was not the wine.

"Heaven and earth refuse to sit and await death; they instinctively launched a counterattack. The third Dragon Lord is the key among keys, so they altered the third Dragon Lord's form.

At the same time, the old Dragon Lord's authority seems to have vanished, so heaven and earth could only nurture another, different authority. Because it was the first time, the nurturing was especially difficult, resulting in a deviation — it could only start small, and even required the True Spirit to refine it itself?

The benefit, however, is that True Spirits innately know how to refine the Position Fruit!"

"Holy shit!"

Lan Jicai's eyes bulged.

The recorded pages trembled slightly, and every hair on his body stood on end.

A Position Fruit obviously wouldn't come with a sticky note, nor would it innately possess a name. All names are bestowed afterward. A tree is called a tree because people coined the character 'tree'. Names are like this; refining and ascending are the same.

The Position Fruit is the authority of heaven and earth, its rank extremely high. Wanting to divine or calculate the refining method is utterly impossible. Therefore, the completion of the lineage becomes the cornerstone of all living beings————

Did the Dragon-Human race sense it long ago?

Lan Jicai glanced at Long Binglin.

Long Binglin cultivated the 'Eye Recognition Technique' and instantly sensed the gaze, muttering: Would Lan Jicai really want to find a dragon girl? Would refusing directly be too rude? Introducing her over — wouldn't that be pushing her into a fire pit?

Terrifying, utterly terrifying!

It was as if a circle had been drawn around all matters. Lan Jicai struggled to maintain his breathing, discarding his distracting thoughts, not daring to record further, yet unable to stop himself from thinking.

What exactly is the outcome of heaven and earth's counterattack? What are those above the Nine Heavens up to?

"If the guess is not wrong————"

Lan Jicai lowered his head and looked at Bai Yuan again.

Bai Yuan doesn't just know how to refine it; he should also know how to universally ascend the Position Fruit!

Even————know an even grander lineage!

Boom—!

Bai Yuan surged forward with a stride, cutting off the Yellow Sand River.

Lan's Changyou Position Fruit went from barely perceptible to its current sapphire blue, from its initial hardness to its current softness like a mass of flowing water — like forging a steel billet into a sharp weapon, smashing open the hard fruit shell to leave behind digestible fruit flesh.

Too difficult, too simple.

The difficulty lay in half a month — the water of the entire Vortex Palace had been exchanged for who knows how many rounds, nearly swallowing countless tens of thousands of miles of muddy water. Under heaven, who else could do it?

The simplicity lay in Liang Qu having the Ze Nation, the ability to control water, the Great Shun's assistance, the Ze Cauldron's assistance — swallowing rivers, spitting rivers — a ritual seemingly tailor-made for him!

Mastering the spirit to perceive things, the spirit moves Qi to enter the minute.

In the dark, a tacit understanding forms of its own accord, like sympathetic vibration, achieving wall-penetration through molecular intervals.

Sensing the moment had arrived, Bai Yuan opened his massive mouth and, together with the Yellow Sand River water, swallowed the softened, liquefied Changyou Position Fruit whole into his belly!

Lan Jicai's spirit roused; his eyeballs widened to the maximum.

Is it going to succeed?

The Yellow Sand River Demon King, the Huaijiang Demon King, the East Sea, the North Sea, the Southern Frontier, the Northern Court————none failed to crane their necks watching.

"Huala."

The stone monkey smashed into the Ze Nation; turbulent currents surged horizontally. The cashew-shaped fruit wobbled like jelly.

At this very moment, the Ze Nation breathed in and out, still washed by endless torrents, like firewood continuously added to a furnace.

The 'jelly-state' stone monkey hovered in midair, constantly twisting, stretching, then springing back to shape. With each deformation, the chaotic currents and forces dissipated without a trace, fluctuating between intensity and weakness.

The stone monkey shuddered for several rounds.

The tremor sensation in Liang Qu's body and mind grew stronger and stronger, until finally, under another torrent's scouring, the Changyou Fruit could persist no longer, reaching a final melting point — the membrane ruptured, and the stone monkey went *pu* and completely melted into liquid!

Azure-blue liquid flowed like a long dragon.

Heart pounding violently.

The Ze Cauldron trembled.

【Refining Art Perfected, Authority Seized————】

Amid the torrents, the sapphire-blue long dragon slowly faded, as if merging into the Ze Nation, yet also like scorching magma smashing through the Ze Nation and falling into the Lower Dantian.

The Ze Nation turned azure-blue in an instant. The square-covered realm twisted and deformed, stretching into a river, fierce and murderous. Inside the Lower Dantian, the cracked yellow earth remained unchanged, yet the brown yellow earth abruptly changed color, turning an eerie deep blue.

Boom!

Violent chaotic currents and forces exploded inside his body.

When Changyou was held in hand, Liang Qu could still control it. But at this moment, the flood-disaster power unique to Changyou erupted inside the Lower Dantian; searing pain assaulted him.

There was no beauty of refining the Position Fruit to fill the dried-up Root Sea — only pouring oil on fire.

The eight-hundred-fold Root Sea shattered into pieces in an instant!

The three Dragon Court Immortal Islands collapsed inch by inch!

Before, he merely couldn't sense the Root Sea, yet could still expend energy to use the Creation Art. Now, he couldn't even perceive the Creation Art!

Liang Qu's pupils contracted sharply, but following close on the Dragon Court Immortal Islands' collapse came an inexplicable sensation striking the back of his head, connecting to his spine. It was as if he had grown an extra hand, an extra foot — innately able to grasp, innately able to move.

Something was shoved into his hand.

He gripped it tight, like Zeus clutching lightning.

The universe is the journey, all things are the travelers.

All things in the world swiftly become insignificant, turning into dust within the universe.

The mighty, terrifying, supremely sacred power replaced everything.

The awe-inspiring pressure swept across the Shahe River, surging up and down, causing the martial artists on both banks to have their qi and blood flow backward, like a roaring flood or azure dragon, thrashing violently within their bodies, nearly unable to resist kneeling and prostrating—only by kneeling, only by curling their bodies, becoming crawling ants, could they avoid being seen and endure.

【Disaster as prolonged rain, rivers and lakes overflowing, the three rivers on the right boiling and surging.】

【Right Long Fruit】

【Attribute: Disaster】

【Authority: Flood Slaughter, already seized】

【Advancement Ritual: Locking Waves to Calm the Vast Sea, Stabilizing the Sea and Quelling the Flood Waves, Subduing Water Disasters, Storing Away the Flood Slaughter, to Pacify the Four Directions, Eligible for Promotion to the Position of Fruit One Wu Fruit】

【World Ritual: Right Long Fruit, Union Fruit, Transformation Snake Fruit, Victory Fruit, gathering the Four Disasters, the Water Sovereign as king, capable of guiding the Flood Realm.】

【Marsh State (False) (Small) Transformation —— Flood State (False) (Small)】

"Pa!"

Five fingers tightly gripping, tearing the silk flow, vacuum suddenly appearing.

The transparent patterned scroll swept across Jianghe, the chaotic flood dissipating without trace.

Aquatic plants swaying left and right, drawn into small whirlpools spinning and flung away, falling gently like leaves, the large fish in the mud shaking their heads, fleeing in panic.

Jianghuai Great Marsh, river mouth.

The fat fish facing the black viper, fins holding the precious fish, wiggling its buttocks.