Chapter 181: Embracing the Mountain

Atop Butian Peak, Lu Yang stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

And behind him, Lady Ruoxiang's graceful figure quietly appeared; her beautiful eyes, as she looked at him, held shock and envy, before she stepped forward and said softly:

"Congratulations to Duanmu Yuan Tu on reaching mid Foundation Establishment — from here, longevity is within sight!"

It couldn't be helped that she wasn't envious.

After all, both being at Foundation Establishment, she had not only failed to grasp any innate divine ability, she hadn't even comprehended her own natal divine ability; otherwise she wouldn't have been so single-mindedly scheming about how to reincarnate.

But compared with her, Lu Yang — who had only completed his Dao a mere century ago, so young it was inconceivable — had already broken through layer upon layer of barriers, reaching mid Foundation Establishment in one fell swoop. How could this not make Lady Ruoxiang feel envious? Still, she was clever, and did not let that envy affect her mindset.

"Lady, you flatter me."

Listening to Lady Ruoxiang's flattery, Lu Yang merely smiled faintly, then turned his gaze inward, silently sensing the changes brought by this innate divine ability.

【Bao Shou Shan】

At this moment, within his Dao Foundation, a towering mountain-shadow appeared, balancing a single Qi, firmly pressing down on heaven and earth, locking all his merit and fortune within his body.

"This is the innate divine ability."

Lu Yang murmured inwardly, feeling only that the world before his eyes was utterly different; along with it, he gained new insights into karma, fate, and even a whole realm of heaven and earth.

No wonder the gap between early and mid Foundation Establishment was precisely whether one could manifest an innate divine ability. This was by no means merely gaining another powerful technique — it was a completion of one's very station. The amplification an innate divine ability gave to the Dao Foundation, and even the transformation it brought to the natal divine ability, were all immediately apparent.

"Embrace the one, hold to the center; distinguish the same from the different."

As the name suggested, 【Bao Shou Shan】, apart from its own marvelous might, could also empower and elevate the "Distinguish Same from Different" marvel within Lu Yang's natal divine ability.

At this moment, when Lu Yang once again held firm 【Distinguish Same from Different】.

In his eyes immediately appeared countless threads of karma — some bright, some dim, some thick, some fine, densely packed together.

These were all his karma.

And the most prominent among them was a wisp of black smoke, which had tainted more than half of the karma threads on his body, wearing away his merit and fortune.

"Heavenly-punishment tribulation qi?"

In his previous life, he still could not see this tribulation qi, so much so that he revealed a flaw before the Peak Master of Butian, nearly failing at the last step and inviting unexpected complications.

But now, not only could he see the existence of the tribulation qi, as he operated 【Distinguish Same from Different】, the towering mountain-shadow within his Dao Foundation immediately resonated in response; under the washing of the divine ability's splendor, it actually drove away those layers of tribulation qi, causing the karma threads on his body to once again radiate with brilliance.

This was still only the amplification of his innate divine ability; beyond that, Bao Shou Shan's own marvels also possessed two layers of variation—void and solid—truly extraordinary and divine.

In its void form, it could suppress hearts and stabilize divine abilities.

In its solid form, it could equalize a single Qi and balance heaven and earth.

This was also the point Lu Yang valued most: it was especially brutal against weaker opponents.

When 【Bao Shou Shan】 took void form, it showed no visible shape — it was simply a great mountain pressing down upon one's heart, and with but a single thought from Lu Yang, it could press down upon another.

From then on, cultivators suppressed by 【Bao Shou Shan】 would be unable to further advance their cultivation; every step of improvement would cost them hundreds or thousands of times the effort of others. Moreover, so long as Lu Yang was willing, he could strike their cultivation down out of thin air — a perfect Qi Refining cultivator could be pressed alive all the way down to Qi Refining first layer!

And this effect could even be used against Foundation Establishment True Persons.

Before a fight, simply cast a 【Bao Shou Shan】 down first; no matter how dazzling the opponent, it could unconditionally cancel out one marvel of their innate divine ability!

Three marvels become two, two become one.

One simply vanishes!

"If back then, when I fought that Huanwu True Person of the Divine Martial Sect, I had had 【Bao Shou Shan】 in hand, he wouldn't even have been able to use his natal divine ability."

How overbearing!

What's even more outrageous is that this suppression ability can be chosen at will — if you wish, you can completely pick any one marvel to suppress and erase, making it extremely hard-counter against True Persons whose fighting style relies entirely on a single core marvel of their natal divine ability.

For example, Senior Wu Cang.

His most powerful technique, 【Heavenly Furnace Departing Fire】, was composed of the "Fire Within Wood" marvel from his natal divine ability combined with the innate divine ability 【Not-South-Flee】.

At the time, it had caused Lu Yang no small trouble.

But now, he only needed to hurl a 【Bao Shou Shan】 over, suppress "Fire Within Wood," and immediately break Senior Wu Cang's most powerful technique!

Of course, this method of canceling marvels also had its limits.

First, once the marvel to be canceled was chosen, it could not be changed again in the short term; second, the other marvels of 【Bao Shou Shan】 could not be employed.

When 【Bao Shou Shan】 took solid form, it could equalize a single Qi and balance heaven and earth — as the name suggested, it would truly manifest a mountain-shadow, suppressing all the spiritual energy, karma, and fortune within a region; no matter how many transformations one had, escape would be difficult. It was an extremely powerful means of trapping people.

"Damn, mechanics and stats coexist."

Opening his eyes, Lu Yang thoroughly understood why the 【City-Head Earth】 fruit position was so sought-after — the related divine abilities were either mechanics or stats.

A pity — the karma was too heavy.

"Although I'll have to abandon it sooner or later, right now it still has its uses. Perfect timing to settle old and new grudges together — today I'll resolve one great worry in my heart."

At this thought, Lu Yang raised his head: "Come out. Why skulk around?"

As his words fell, under a dark sky and a high wind, a figure in black quietly emerged from the night — a familiar face, but without the world-shaking might of the previous life.

"I am Senior Wu Cang, greetings, Daoist friend Duanmu Yuan Tu."

At these words, Lu Yang immediately laughed; although he was well aware that the 【Senior Wu Cang】 he had last seen in his previous life was not the man himself, but a Dao-fiend who had seized his body.

But right now, he still couldn't beat a Dao-fiend.

Yet the stifling fury of being hunted down to self-detonation in his previous life had to be vented on someone, so the account would have to be settled on Senior Wu Cang's head for now!

"Duanmu Yuan Tu, this person comes with ill intent."

Lady Ruoxiang at his side showed a worried expression upon seeing this. Lu Yang, however, waved a hand telling her to retreat first, then said: "I understand the purpose of your visit, Daoist friend."

"A pity — a True Monarch's personal letter is far too precious to be lightly handed over."

As Lu Yang's words fell, the feigned smile on Senior Wu Cang's face instantly faded, and he said grimly: "In that case, does the Daoist friend wish to suffer a little?"

Lu Yang did not answer.

After breaking through to the mid stage, he had also discerned a few key points: this Senior Wu Cang was of scattered-cultivation origin, and after reincarnating had taken refuge in the Holy Sect, so he still carried the airs of a scattered cultivator.

In short, all his many divine abilities focused on killing and combat, but had nothing to do with karma.

This kind of person was far too easily influenced.

Therefore, his coming to trouble me may not be genuine.

Recalling the heavenly and earthly killing intent upon my body in my past life, Lu Yang now thinks it is nine times out of ten that a certain big shot of the Holy Sect struck the black hand.

However, doing so cannot be without a price.

A Foundation Establishment True Person is extraordinary and transcendent, with karma standing alone; to manipulate it inevitably requires paying a certain price, and cannot be done as casually as controlling Qi Refining.

In other words—

"If other variables suddenly arise while manipulating karma, there is a ninety-nine percent chance that this method of manipulating Foundation Establishment karma will immediately backfire upon the original owner!"

What exactly are these variables?

The answer speaks for itself: the opponent is using Wu Cang to deal with me; if I suddenly spring up and behead Wu Cang, that is the greatest variable!

Thinking of this, a streak of scarlet flashed abruptly in Lu Yang's eyes.

Whoever plotted against me, whether Hong Yun or another True Person of the Holy Sect, absolutely could not have calculated that he has already broken through and become a mid-stage Foundation Establishment!

After all, 【Bao Shou Shan】 inherently possesses the ability to stabilize merit and fortune; from the moment of breakthrough, Lu Yang had tightly locked the changes in his fortune after breaking through within his body, then used the Qiu Tian Yi to conceal it, revealing not a trace, all for this very moment, to find a way to deal a ruthless blow to the mastermind behind the scenes!

(End of this chapter)