Chapter 744: line with translation of chapter title

The iron rod was dark black, depriving the surrounding heaven and earth of all light.

It is like the condensation after the extinction of myriad universes, and also seems to be the manifestation of the primordial, most ancient chaos that nurtures all life variables... Regardless of whether it is destruction or creation, it represents boundless divine might.

It can stabilize the four seas, calm the waves, shake the Heavenly River above, and sweep the Yellow Springs below!

Especially, when the ancient god Red Cloud contributed, a glimmer of spiritual light shone, delivering a most precious message.

That is the insight and experience of this Cloud Ancestor when he was the Water Dao Emperor; it is an ultimate understanding of the Water Great Dao, which accomplished this divine needle iron, granting it specialization in the Water Dao!

Yes... The Cloud Ancestor once was the emperor of the Water Dao, being the Great Emperor of the Water Element Cavern Yin, and also the Great Emperor of the Water Office.

This is an old case from the Dragon-Phoenix era—when the Dragon Ancestor was slain by the Demon Ancestor, the Red Cloud ancient god, who was still a deity belonging to the Dragon Ancestor, seized the opportunity, used his own Cloud Dao, accepted the inheritance, took over the ownerless Water Dao, and ultimately became a generation's Divine Dao Great Emperor.

Even if the Dragon Ancestor returned, Red Cloud never returned it... His reasons were also ample.

"The authority over the Water Dao, when traced to its root, also comes from heaven and earth... Old Dragon, you could become the first-generation Water Dao Great Emperor because your strength was formidable, you defeated all competitors."

"But no matter how long you occupy it, you are merely a user, the steward of this Honghuang public resource!"

"You lost it, I took it away, then you are obsolete!"

"As long as I do not lose virtue, have not made mistakes, and contribute to the circulation of the water element of heaven and earth, you have no qualification to forcibly compel me to hand it over."

Red Cloud has his own reasoning.

Even if his means of ascending to power were not so glorious, being somewhat of an unscrupulous "office addict"... but during his tenure, judging by deeds not intentions, he was indeed faultless, even having some merit.

The Saint is selfless, therefore able to accomplish his own self.

Red Cloud perhaps lacks the Saint's heart, but he has the Saint's conduct.

Sitting in the position of the Water Dao Emperor, he is a qualified Divine Dao Great Emperor, taking the heart of the myriad beings as his own, circulating the water of heaven and earth, causing clouds and rain, making no mistakes, and deeply imprinting his mark in Honghuang.

As long as he does not one day announce trouble, gather crowds to rebel, merely strengthening his influence... then no one can find fault with him.

Such conduct, even if someone does not approve of his means of ascending, cannot attack him or drive him from his position.

Thus the Dragon Ancestor is pitiful, merely doing the wedding dress for others.

Therefore, in this lich's era, the Dragon Ancestor Great Saint so concerned with Red Cloud's life, must put him to death, also has its reasons.

Public grudges and private grievances... mixed together, finally let the Dragon Ancestor in the Heavenly Court ruthlessly strike down and slay Red Cloud.

All that was once lost can be reclaimed.

Unfortunately.

Feng shui turns.

Dragon Ancestor Great Saint, he fell flat again!

Red Cloud thus escaped the deadlock and fought again in Honghuang!

One cannot say the Dragon Ancestor is too weak... merely the trials he faces are growing stronger.

This time, the Demon Ancestor did not intervene to intercept and kill, but he is effectively simultaneously opposing the three strongest great achievers of the present age!

Hunyuan wanted to use him as a spear to shatter Buzhou, dealt a heavy blow, struck into the bottom of the era, and added a seal upon him.

Donghua fell dead, wanting to die more "truly", August Emperor then entered the fray, and casually took the most joyous head-iron dragon to cut, thus creating the Yinglong.

Humanity, however, has become refined, has ideas... and when there is a role model like Fengxi willing to self-sacrifice and dedicate, for that ambitious and somewhat species-discriminating Dragon Ancestor, the support naturally is only a "little bit" less.

The three ultimate beings are either Pangu, or infinitely close to Pangu.

How tragic the Dragon Ancestor is!

This also lets the Red Cloud ancient god easily return, awakened by the Literary Command, lighting the bright lamp of the return path, receiving the true self of one's nature via Jieyin.

Red Cloud re-entered the fray, participated in the "Stabilize the Sea" plan, becoming an important part.

He is a key.

The position he once controlled, now that the Dragon Ancestor is no longer repeatedly reincarnated, is the strongest in the Water Dao!

This "strongest" can accomplish many things.

"With this, the basics are basically done."

The Literary Command flicked a finger, lightly tapped the iron rod, emitting a dull thud, instantly causing the ten directions' spacetime to surge, making even light and darkness congeal!

"Thanks, Dao friend."

He spoke with a smile, expressing gratitude to the Red Cloud ancient god.

But this time, the Cloud Ancestor was silent, his quietude sinking to the extreme.

His spiritual light coalesced, falling into the obscure Dao realm, as he rebuilt his foundations and clarified his capital.

In this chaotic era, many things he lost have been regained.

—like regaining authority over the Cloud Dao, gaining the qualification to continue improving and meddling with the Water Dao.

Without the Dragon Ancestor's suppressive freeze, this restoration allows many things to be reactivated, influenced through backdoors... for example, the platform for Cloud cultivation.

However, Red Cloud this time is not particularly greedy, he is willing to let go, having taken on a sort of boundary-drawing conduct, sorting out his control over the Water Dao, carrying a sense of isolation.

After all, in this era of ups and downs, he clearly realizes— the Dragon Ancestor is a tough character!

Although the Dragon Ancestor Great Saint, each version has gone through hardships... but he is indeed truly strong!

Even after a series of great rises and falls, he still possesses extraordinary courage, wit, and strategy, acting opportunistically in critical moments, in one move calculating the three great powers!

He stole Hunyuan's Heavenly Dao, usurped Donghua's Legal Dao, deceived Nüwa, making her, via the Dao of Creation, enlighten the myriad beings, adding a bit of dragon nature, thus creating the dinosaur lineage!

The greatest boldness, undertaking the greatest death, achieves the pinnacle!

To some extent, the Dragon Ancestor being ganged up on and beaten by a bunch of tough guys has a hint of karmic retribution.

After all, at this point, who is cause and who is effect is not so important... everyone is strong and ancient, and causality can be reversed and scrambled.

Because you will offend me in the future, I will now beat you up, is that not excessive?

Aren't all those reincarnation-stream stories written like this?

Reality being even more fantastical than novels is quite normal, right?!

However, those who can go and deal with the Dragon Ancestor are all capable.

Cloud Ancestor found himself gradually becoming unable to cope.

If I continue to follow such a person, to contend for the Water Dao's authority, relying on being Pangu's foundation… well, better not.

Change professions! I must change professions!

As for this, the Red Cloud Ancient God had already made plans.

Cloud, formless and shapeless, ever moving and circulating, dividing and joining the four directions, gathering to become rain, dispersing to become qi… If considered macroscopically, its conjunction with the distribution and aggregation of qi fortune and wealth is wonderfully analogous.

Transitioning from the Cloud Dao to the Wealth Dao, having once overseen the creation of a Cloud cultivation platform, is sufficient to achieve a seamless transition.

The best part is that the Wealth Dao has a master, belonging to the Qi Fortune Dao master… This is precisely what need not worry about the emergence of a Pangu Dao contest.

—Because the Qi Fortune Dao master is already Pangu!

This could not be better.

As long as I can handle the big shot's work, my later days will be very comfortable, without needing to worry about being forced into fierce and brutal competition.

Peaceful and steady, sitting calmly at the fishing terrace, watching clouds roll and unfurl, naturally tranquil.

This is also Red Cloud's thought.

Once, he so abandoned his principles, even taking advantage of the Dragon Ancestor's death to shamelessly accept the "inheritance"—what was he after… if not to climb upward?

Climbing to a sufficiently safe height, wealth freedom, spiritual fulfillment.

Cloud, ever-changing myriad forms, actually does not care, nor is it attached to any particular form… Back then, seeking the Water Dao was because this was a shortcut.

Looking again now, the Dragon Ancestor is fierce, the Water Dao may be impassable… but it doesn't matter, the difficulty is too great; we can just take another route!

As long as the goal can be achieved, that is enough!

Moreover, having a record of having dabbled in the Water Dao and becoming the Great Emperor of the Water Element Cavern Yin constitutes "credentials"… When switching professions, whether it be the Heavenly Dao or the Human Dao, they will look upon one with greater favor.

Now his experience is precisely this true portrayal.

However.

Although he feared the Dragon Ancestor's ferocity, Red Cloud withdrew from the Water Dao competition market, yet the grudge of his past death—he felt—still warranted giving a final eye drop.

—A proper business competition, Old Dragon, you lack martial virtue, sneaking up and killing me—this is excessive!

—Don't blame me either; in the end I left you with a deep impression!

Carrying a trace of lingering thought, the Cloud Ancestor sank into a state of vacuous stillness; in a flash of Dao nature, there shimmered a five-colored, bewildering light.

Above the firmament, cloud qi pervades, rolling and spreading, gradually forming twenty-four layers of division, each possessing its own order, inwardly concealing profound mysteries.

Containing the exalted status of the Water Dao, it becomes a great weapon to pacify the four seas; time and space coil, Chaos unfolds, becoming a speck, yet also like the boundless Myriad Heavens.

The twenty-four directional heavens arise and cease in turn, like dreamlike bubbles, as wondrous as a transforming cloud sea.

At the same moment, in a realm of emptiness, the Numinous Treasure Heavenly Venerable stands alone in the void; suddenly, a mysterious light stirs in his sleeve, and a set of Numinous Treasures undergoes a sudden change, seeming to gain a few degrees of reality and completeness.

The Venerable opens his palm, and that set of Numinous Treasures hovers above his palm, reflecting the five-colored, bewildering light of this place.

"Dragon clan…"

"Alas…"

"When will the cycle of grudges end?"

"Grievances should be resolved, not knotted!"

In the Venerable's sigh, he calculated with his fingers, then suddenly fell silent.

"Hmm…"

"Hiss…"

"Grudge…"

"Actually…"

"As long as the supporting strength is great enough…"

"I could move my dojo overseas to block the Dragon Palace's gate!"

"Is there anything else needed?"

"Such a great price…"

"Should we make something like golden scissors to cut flood dragons, or dragon-binding ropes, and such?"

"Two or more items get a 30% discount, and free shipping!"

The Numinous Treasure Heavenly Venerable changed his aloof, neutral stance.

No way.

It's really that some people, he gives too much!

The Numinous Treasure Heavenly Venerable, how upright and candid a child, yet has been corroded into a flexible moral bottom line.

…

Among the Xia dynasty, winds and clouds surge tumultuously.

Someone lays out plans for a thousand autumns, schemes for ten thousand ages, having set up a great game.

However, these are matters for later.

At this moment, what is being performed on the stage is the Dragon Master, is the Heavenly Court!

When the Dragon Master faces covert enemies' sniping and engineering collapse, he moves in wrath, activating the Dragon Ancestor's authority, evolving into the supreme dharma form, crashing into the River of Ages, thereby reversing the present and resetting the past!

This exactly suits the intentions of some opponents.

The ability of a Great Luo is indeed capable of altering history and overturning the present state.

Such a contest between such powerhouses is destined to be complex… because at any time someone may "retract their move".

Fortunately, "retracting a move" is not without cost.

Because altering the past requires far too much more power than maintaining the present!

After all, moving the past will cause many powerhouses who perceive time outside the sequence to also move, repeatedly experiencing the work already done… overtime!

Just this point alone is enough to become a tremendous pressure.

But maintaining the present is different…… Who would care about your life-and-death struggle?

This back-and-forth creates a huge gap…… thereby also giving room for wisdom and strategy to operate, enabling the weak to overcome the strong and profit from the difference.

Therefore, the weak cannot place their hope in the past, for that would only make them weaker.

But often, the road leaves no choice.

Weak Water turned into disaster, projects collapsed, and the Dragon Master was driven to the brink of bankruptcy!

At this very moment, this immense power is like a gambler blinded by losses, compelled to stake even his last chip.

Because even if they don't push, the enormous debt they owe is enough to crush the Dragon Master.

A single chip is of no use.

But if they push forward…… what if they win?

This is a glimmer of hope.

But sometimes, hope…… is also a trap that drowns people.

The Heavenly Court's seasoned angler, facing the dying, struggling fish, calmly controls the line, letting it struggle, allowing its resistance, for a moment letting it see a glimmer of dawn.

——The problem of Weak Water will soon be settled!

Having expended tremendous power, the newly woven evolution of history displays its originally normal state…… Such a scene, once reset back onto the true timeline, could erase this turmoil, returning it to a time before it erupted.

Afterward, the Dragon Master will frenziedly mobilize its armies, exterminating those rebels completely!

However……

This is a dream that can never be reached, a hope that is unattainably distant.

At the moment when the Dragon's Dharma Aspect is nearly accomplished!

Amid the silently surging obstacles!

An assault…… erupted!

「Boom! 」

Within the waves of time, the most splendid and radiant light is bursting forth!

「Hum! 」

Within the reset timeline, inside the Weak Water now under control, a deep shadow rises, mingling with the profound mysteries of the waterways mastered by the dragon clan, once deceiving the perception of Dan Zhu and the Four Seas Dragon King!

When it actively breaks free, it is also the moment of a heaven‑shaking assault erupting.

「Rumble! 」

The torrential river flows, strand after strand of world‑shaking power rises, endless splendid light rain like silk fills this tributary of the cosmic radiance, each gleam spawning the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Worlds—a sight too beautiful…… and perilous!

The two great Yao Marshals, joining forces, unleash a heavy strike!

「Shangyang! 」

「Jimeng! 」

The Dragon's Dharma Aspect roared angrily, emitting a resonant dragon chant: "It's you lot!"

"I should have known earlier…… Weak Water! Weak Water!"

"This is your Heavenly Court's specialty; behind such events, how could you possibly be absent?!"

Dan Zhu assumed a startled‑angry posture, belatedly realizing, and, mounting the Dragon's Dharma Aspect, prepared to retreat from here.

However……

"You want to leave? Too late!"

Jimeng, unsuspecting, merely chuckled, "Please, Your Majesty the East Emperor, lend aid!"

The words had just fallen.

「Thud! 」

A bell tolled, and a terrifying energy sweep swept across the ages, emanating from the source of time, shattering this river channel, tearing this segment of spacetime, making the Dragon's Dharma Aspect's return path arduous.

「Dragon Master! 」

「Today…… it is destined to perish! 」

The Demon Emperor's judgment echoes throughout the Myriad Heavens.

(End of chapter)