Chapter 69: Sacred Body Reaches Great Completion

Inside the Refining Dharma Secret Realm.

Lu Yang's true body was safe and sound, seated calmly in his cave dwelling. As for Ji Xiongying's dying curses, he paid them no heed at all—his heart was filled with nothing but joy at this moment.

"The Sage-Stealing Art is complete!"

Lu Yang stood up, raised his head to look at the sky. What met his eyes was a single long river of purple qi—this was the fate gathered from all one hundred and forty million living beings of the entire secret realm!

The fate of the Martial Way!

And at this moment, Lu Yang was bathing within that fate. The resplendent purple qi poured down upon him, making him seem as though he had instantly become the center of heaven and earth.

At the same time, the one hundred and forty million living beings within the Refining Dharma Secret Realm—from mortals below to Heavenly Persons above—all felt something in their hearts at this moment. One by one they raised their heads to look at the sky, and faintly, as if glimpsed through a haze, they saw a magnificent Golden Body rise up from the earth, solemn and majestic, with rolling mortal dust cradling it as it slowly ascended.

"Dharma-Bearing descends, Sacred Body reaches Great Completion!"

Lu Yang opened his eyes and once more sensed that Dao resonance—like 'ascension'—which in the past he had only ever felt from great divine abilities and Foundation Establishment True Persons.

His 'altitude' was rising!

Boundless fate was wholly swallowed and absorbed by Lu Yang, not a single thread left behind, and this fate slowly constructed an incomparably intricate Dharma Instrument within his body.

"... Hm?"

Just then, Lu Yang suddenly raised his head and looked toward the sky.

At the same time, within Jingcheng, as Lu Yang shattered the void and Ji Xiongying followed close behind, the face of the Cloud Family Old Ancestor suddenly revealed a look of shock and fury.

"Not good!"

Only at this moment did he understand Lu Yang's scheme. Lu Yang had forged a realm of 'Shattering the Void' above Heavenly Person, and with himself as proof, and now another—Ji Xiongying—from this day forth all under heaven would firmly believe this path was viable, and then one after another rush headlong in pursuit!

The entire system, a seamless whole!

Even the fourth step of the Martial Way he himself had created was perfectly encompassed by it. The result was that not only did it fail to ruin Lu Yang's cultivation, it actually amplified its might!

Because if relying only on Lu Yang, the Martial Way would amount to at most late-stage Qi Refining.

But with the Cloud Family Old Ancestor's help, the limit of the Martial Way had shockingly reached Perfect Qi Refining, and so the fate fed back by the Sage-Stealing Art would also be vast to the extreme!

Yet now, even he was unable to break the Martial Way system.

Because in theory, a Martial Way Heavenly Person comparable to Perfect Qi Refining was a dead end—and this was true not only for Lu Yang, but for him as well!

And he could find no flaw in the realm of 'Shattering the Void'.

After all, once one shatters the void, the person is gone. In matters where the dead cannot testify, it's always the case that each side has its own reasoning—what could he use to find a flaw?

To break the deadlock, unless he could devise a method different from Shattering the Void, one that could let the Martial Way truly break through Foundation Establishment.

But before his reincarnation, he himself was only at early-stage Foundation Establishment, his abilities limited—what could he use to devise a method that could let the Martial Way break through Foundation Establishment?

A Jin Dan True Monarch would be more like it!

Otherwise, he could just kill everyone who saw Lu Yang shatter the void—but what meaning would that have? It would only needlessly expose his existence.

In other words, the momentum of Lu Yang's cultivation of the 'Sage-Stealing Art' could no longer be stopped!

"Bastard! Bastard!"

Thinking of this, the Cloud Family Old Ancestor was so angry his teeth were nearly ground to dust. He had never imagined that his carefully laid plans would come to nothing, and even become a boon to the enemy!

After all his painstaking efforts to push forward karma, he had only made wedding clothes for another?

He could not accept it!

Thinking of this, the Cloud Family Old Ancestor could not help grinding his teeth, his heart filled with unwillingness. Then, astonishingly, he once again pushed forward karma, wanting to make one last attempt.

The Cloud Family Old Ancestor activated the 'Investigating Heaven Instrument', using it to enhance his influence over karma: "The Sage-Stealing Art contains a tribulation within its fate. This tribulation was originally meant to fall upon me, but as long as I strip it out and employ a tribulation-substitution technique, swapping heavenly tribulation for human tribulation, I can draw upon the power of heaven and earth to kill him!"

"Stealing the fate of all under heaven is an act against heaven—divine punishment is certain!"

The Cloud Family Old Ancestor let out a furious roar. In an instant, above Lu Yang's closed-door cultivation site, the originally clear sky became shrouded in dark clouds, with bolts of Lei She weaving through them.

Boom!

Thunder burst from the mountains, heaven and earth turned white!

A massive bolt of Lei Guang cleaved straight down from the dark clouds, so fast that there was no time to react at all—in the blink of an eye it struck Lu Yang.

When the Lei Guang dispersed, Lu Yang's figure slowly reappeared.

Yet, to the Cloud Family Old Ancestor's disbelief, facing this bolt of heavenly thunder that could even possibly have slain one at Great Perfection of Qi Refining, Lu Yang was completely unharmed!

"This is... the Dharma-Bearing of the Sage-Stealing Art?"

The intelligence regarding the 'Sage-Stealing Art' suddenly flashed through the Cloud Family Old Ancestor's mind. The Minor Completion and Great Completion of this body-tempering art were entirely different things.

Minor Completion of the Sage-Stealing Art was merely a simple enhancement of the physical body.

Great Completion of the Sage-Stealing Art, however, could condense a 'Dharma-Bearing'.

In Immortal Way cultivation, 'altitude', or rather 'station', often symbolized an absolute gap. As long as one's station was high enough, those below were mere ants.

Just as Foundation Establishment True Persons were to Qi Refining cultivators.

And the 'Dharma-Bearing' of the Sage-Stealing Art was, in a sense, a kind of station.

Therefore, the current Lu Yang was no longer on the same station as ordinary cultivators. Any attack whose station was 'lower' than his could not even wound him!

For example, the rolling heavenly thunder summoned by the Cloud Family Old Ancestor through karma—though its might was strong, it possessed no corresponding station. The result was naturally like a two-dimensional striking a three-dimensional: no matter how great the power, it was empty talk, utterly meaningless. Not to mention wounding Lu Yang, it could not even scuff the hem of his robe.

Of course, Dharma-Bearing also had its strong and weak, and not everyone was like this.

The Initial Saint Sect had no shortage of talents. Lu Yang was not the only disciple to cultivate the Sage-Stealing Art to completion, yet the Dharma-Bearing he had condensed was the strongest to date!

Because the strength of the 'Dharma-Bearing' was determined by the system created through cultivating the Sage-Stealing Art.

If the system stopped at mid-stage Qi Refining, then the 'Dharma-Bearing' could only ignore attacks at mid-stage Qi Refining, and would still be broken through by late-stage Qi Refining.

Yet with the Cloud Family Old Ancestor's 'help', Lu Yang's Martial Way encompassed Great Perfection of Qi Refining!

Therefore, his 'Dharma-Bearing' meant that unless cultivators below Foundation Establishment had mastered a great divine ability that could likewise elevate station, none could break through it!

Rumble rumble rumble!

Bolts of Lei Guang crashed down one after another, yet Lu Yang regarded them as nothing, unmoved. Even the great formations around him were shattered, and he remained completely unharmed.

Seeing this scene, the Cloud Family Old Ancestor's eyes nearly split with rage, yet he was utterly helpless.

"At this point, we can only let him go." The Yun Clan Ancestor sighed: "Very well, let him depart; the Zhang Sect's mission is more important."

"Senior, are you watching me?"

A indifferent voice came; the Yun Clan Ancestor suddenly froze, only to see that under the perspective of causality, Lu Yang suddenly turned his head, his gaze calm as he looked at him.

He can see me. No, he knows I exist!?

The Yun Clan Ancestor instinctively stepped back, horror in his heart; he instantly severed the causal connection, then suppressed his breath and closed his qi, concealing all his heavenly secrets.

However, the Lu Yang of now is vastly different!

"Wanting to flee."

Lu Yang lowered his eyelids, ripples rising in his pupils; at this moment, his Sage Body was fully formed. Although he had not yet reached Foundation Establishment, the Yun Clan Ancestor was likewise not at Foundation Establishment.

At this moment, the two held no significant gap in status!

The next second, Lu Yang's soul escaped his body, shooting straight into the sky, looking down from above upon the entire Refining Method Secret Realm, the vast earth momentarily laid bare before his eyes.

The Yun Clan Ancestor had the 'Heaven-Seeking Instrument' protecting him, concealing his heavenly secrets with unerring success, so Lu Yang could not calculate his location. However, having cultivated the Sage Thief here, this place was his home ground; he did not need to calculate at all, he only needed to see which thread of qi had not yet been stolen by him!

Whoosh—whoosh—!

With a mere thought from Lu Yang, myriad threads of qi reflected in his sea of consciousness, yet were swiftly filtered out, until finally only one seemingly weak thread of qi remained, located within Tianjing City.

Immediately after, a void opened.

The Yun Clan Ancestor, who had believed his heavenly secrets were concealed, looked up in astonishment, only to see a ripple spreading above his head, followed by a figure in a black robe stepping out from within.

"... Found you."

(End of this chapter)